The Conjuring: Last Rites Claims Top Spot as Box Office Roars Back! | Weekend of September 5th, 2025

A strong weekend is reigniting the box office, with this week’s numbers surpassing the $6 Billion mark for the year to date! The industry is now up +3% from a year ago, with a fantastic slate of upcoming titles that promise to keep the momentum going.

The Conjuring: Last Rites dominated the marketplace, pulling in a massive 67% of both admissions and box office dollars and selling nearly 6 million tickets. The film’s $84M opening blew past expectations and is particularly impressive for a fourth entry in a horror series, which typically shows fatigue. This solidifies The Conjuring franchise as a theatrical powerhouse with a dedicated fanbase.

In a surprising and welcome performance, Hamilton proved that some stories are timeless. Despite being available on Disney+ since 2020, the filmed stage performance took in a remarkable $10M at the box office. This success highlights the ongoing appeal of "event-style" content that audiences want to experience together on the big screen, reinforcing that cultural touchstones can transcend formats when given the right platform.

Light of the World, an animated retelling of the life of Jesus, had a strong showing with admissions. While it landed at #5 in admissions, its dollar ranking fell to #9, which is likely due to its family-friendly nature and the lower ticket prices associated with matinee and child admissions. This serves as a great reminder that different audiences contribute to the box office in different ways.

Looking Ahead: Period Drama and Anime Go Head-to-Head

This coming weekend delivers an interesting mix of new releases. On one end, we have Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, offering a dose of comfort for fans of prestige period drama. Its strong, loyal fanbase should propel it toward its $15-$20M projection.

On the other side of the spectrum, anime powerhouse Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle is set to make a big splash. While Sony's forecast is a conservative $35M, independent trackers are more bullish, pushing estimates closer to $40M and beyond. If it hits these marks, it would further solidify anime's growing dominance as a theatrical force in the U.S. market.

The weekend also brings The Long Walk, a young adult adaptation of a Stephen King book. With strong competition, it's more likely to land on the lower end of its forecasts, but it adds to a diverse slate that should help keep September's box office on track and set up momentum for the fourth quarter.

How many tickets will be sold this coming weekend? Find out on our next Cinema Ranker and follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date with the cinema industry and The Marketing Cloud to unlock AI-driven solutions across market research, comms, creative, and media.

To learn more about The People Platform's Audience Measurement, click here.