When you’re hot, you’re hot. That could apply to either Warner Bros. or the Conjuring Universe. This weekend a streak was continued and a monthly top five was broached by a series that may have been teetering with its third chapter but is certainly going out with a bang, sparking a jumpstart to what many expected to be a less-than-lucrative fall season.
King of the Crop: The Conjuring: Last Rites
The Conjuring Universe, started by James Wan in 2013, has been a lucrative franchise for Warner Bros. The three previous Conjuring films alone were responsible for over $844 million worldwide. Throw in a trio of Annabelle films, worth $793 million in their own right, and a couple of Nuns, good for $635.5 million, and you are talking over $2.27 billion in global grosses. That might make the streak it continued this weekend a small point in comparison.
Warner Bros. had been riding high with six straight releases opening to over $40 million, a fact that may have been mis-reported in many outlets as never having happened before. Disney actually did have a seven-film streak of $40 million openings in a row from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to Black Panther in 2017-18. Now Warner Bros. has matched that.
That bit of clean-up notwithstanding, this is a first for Warner Bros., and it’s the first studio to achieve such a feat this decade (or post-pandemic). The Conjuring: Last Rites extended the streak with a massive $83 million opening, making it the fourth-highest September opening of all time. Warner Bros. now owns five of the top six openings in this month, four of them with horror (two Its and a Nun II) plus last year’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. This is also the third-highest horror opening of all time, behind only the two It movies ($123 million and $91 million), which also happen to be Warner Bros. titles. The studio will certainly be happy with this turning into a $2.5 billion franchise. Globally the film is already at $187 million this weekend.
Tales of the top 10: Hamilton Does Decent, Weapons and Freakier Friday Keep Steady
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton was poised to be a big release for Disney before the pandemic thwarted those plans and they generously made it available for all of us at home on Disney+. In celebration of the play’s 10th Anniversary, the filmed stage version finally got its big-screen chance, and it grossed $10 million over the weekend in 1,825 theaters. Those may not be Taylor Swift ($92.8 million opening), Miley Cyrus ($31.1 million), Justin Bieber ($29.5 million), Michael Jackson ($23.2 million), Beyonce ($21,8 million), One Direction ($15.8 million), or even Jonas Brothers ($12.5 million) numbers, but the film did beat Katy Perry ($7.1 million) and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party ($6.2 million). More proof that audiences are still willing to go out and experience in theaters what they can get for the cost of a subscription at home.
Zach Cregger’s Weapons was officially bounced out of the No. 1 slot this week. (Report those grosses, Netflix!) But what a run this film has had, and it is far from over. Weekend five. Third place. $5.4 million. That adds up to $143 million in 31 days and over $251 million worldwide. Among original films released in August, only Signs ($191.9 million), The Sixth Sense ($176.2 million), and Straight Outta Compton ($155.5 million) have done better. Weapons is successfully ahead of Talladega Nights ($136.7 million) and XXX ($130.7 million). $160+ million is almost certainly on tap for the film, and it will likely end up ranked 13th among all August releases. Not bad at all.
Disney’s Freakier Friday remains in the top five for a fifth straight week, continuing its march to become the 11th film of the summer to reach $100 million. (Only nine did in 2024.) Another $3.8 million this weekend helped it along, as it reached $87.8 million. The film did fall behind the pace of Disney’s The Princess Diaries back in 2001, which had a $5.7 million over Labor Day weekend. That brought its total to $91 million in its first month. The numbers will level out again next week, but Freakier Friday is still on pace to get between $100-105 million. Worldwide it is at nearly $143 million.
Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing already announced a physical media date before completing its first week in theaters (it’s Nov. 11 for those interested). Its second weekend fell to $3.2 million, bringing its total to $14.9 million. Not quite The Wrestler money, as it appears unlikely to reach the $26 million made by the director’s platformed Oscar nominee. An end-of-summer dump, even for a pretty well-reviewed film, did not do this any favors. It has made over $24 million worldwide.
Jay Roach’s The Roses was also a late-summer dump into theaters. Then again, it was the third-best opening since Fox Searchlight was rebranded as Searchlight Pictures under the Disney merger, behind A Complete Unknown ($11.6 million) and The Menu ($9 million). After making $2.8 million this weekend it is also already their fifth-highest grossing film since 2020, passing Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley ($11.3 million) with $12.3 million in three days. The French Dispatch’s $16.1 million is next on its domestic journey. Globally, The Roses has made over $32 million.
Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps passed half a billion at the global box office last week, which should be good enough for them to declare victory on it. Another $2.7 million this week puts it over $270 million domestic. Coming up shy of $300 million after a solid $117 million start feels like a disappointment, but it is certainly better than either Captain America: Brave New World or Thunderbolts* (especially Thunderbolts*), which will go down on the red side of Marvel’s ledger. First Steps should just be on the right side of it.
Eighth place goes to Universal’s The Bad Guys 2, which will go down as one of the most successful animated films to be released in August, but also serve as further proof that none of them turns into a blockbuster. It continues to tail Disney’s Planes, making $2.4 million in its sixth weekend, bringing its total up to $77.7 million. Planes was at $83 million at this point after making $3.1 million and is currently the third-highest grossing animated film ever released in the month, behind 2023’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem ($118.5 million) and Sausage Party ($97.6 million) (both co-written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg). The Bad Guys 2 would need to reach $90.3 million to pass Planes for third place, and that is not in the cards. Globally, the film is over $190 million, which is already third place for animated August releases behind only Ponyo ($201.7 million) and Planes ($239.2 million). Meanwhile, the animated Light of the World from The Salvation Poem Project passed up August entirely and opened in ninth place with its own estimated $2.4 million to start September.
And finally, James Gunn’s Superman is nearly at the end of its run. This marks its ninth week in the top 10 with $1 million — $353.3 million domestic, $613 million worldwide. Lower than Man of Steel, lower than this summer’s F1: The Movie and How To Train Your Dragon. The movie may just be able to hang on and make the top 10 global releases of the year, unless there is something besides Avatar 3, Wicked: For Good, and Zootopia 2 waiting to join the $600 million club this year.
Beyond the Top 10: Jaws Lurks, The Toxic Avenger Drops
The 50th Anniversary re-release of Jaws was held over another week and grossed $950,000 to bring its 10-day run to over $12 million. Jurassic World: Rebirth, meanwhile, is now over $860 million worldwide. Neon expanded Splitsville into 800 theaters this weekend, where it grossed $815,000 for a total of $1.2 million. The Toxic Avenger remake fell 86% in its second weekend to just $240,000. It has made $2.8 million.
On the Vine: Spinal Tap, Downton Abbey, and The Long Walk Try to Make an Impact
After more than 40 years, Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls are back on the big screen in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Bleecker Street releases the Rob Reiner sequel with the hopes of besting their highest opening weekend ever of $7.6 million. Time to unite, Spinal Tap fans! Also next week, the end is here with Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. The first film is still Focus’ top-grossing domestic release. The second film is their 18th. Stephen King gets his second adaptation of the year (with a third on the way in November) as September brings his short story The Long Walk to the big screen for the first time, from director Francis Lawrence and Lionsgate.
Full List of Box Office Results: September 5-7, 2025
- The Conjuring: Last Rites – $83.0 million ($83.0 million total)
- Hamilton – $10.0 million ($10.0 million total)
- Weapons – $5.4 million ($143.0 million total)
- Freakier Friday – $3.8 million ($87.8 million total)
- Caught Stealing – $3.2 million ($14.9 million total)
- The Roses – $2.8 million ($12.3 million total)
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps – $2.7 million ($270.1 million total)
- The Bad Guys 2 – $2.4 million ($77.7 million total)
- Light of the World – $2.4 million ($2.4 million total)
- Superman – $1.0 million ($353.3 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
Thumbnail image by Giles Keyte/Warner Bros. Pictures
