“The Conjuring: Last Rites,” which scored a franchise-best launch of $83 million domestically and $187 million globally over the weekend, has extended an epic theatrical run for Warner Bros. as the seventh consecutive release to open above $40 million. No other studio has ever achieved that level of consistency at the box office.

After a terrible theatrical stretch with duds like 2024’s “Joker: Folie a Deux” and this March’s “Mickey 17” and “The Alto Knights,” the fortunes at Warner Bros. began to rebound with April’s video game adaptation “A Minecraft Movie” ($162 million debut). The studio’s turnaround continued with Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s vampire thriller “Sinners” ($48 million), followed by a quartet of summer offerings, “Final Destination Bloodlines” ($51.6 million), Brad Pitt’s “F1: The Movie” ($57 million), “Superman” ($125 million) and director Zach Cregger’s horror mystery “Weapons” ($43.5 million).

What’s even better is that all of those films managed to stick around beyond opening weekend, a fate that several major releases recently failed to achieve. (Disney’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Thunderbolts,” for example, dropped steeply after promising debuts.) “A Minecraft Movie” is the studio’s biggest earner of the year with $957 million globally, followed by “F1” (which Warner Bros. distributed for Apple) with $617 million, “Superman” with $613 million, “Sinners” with $366 million, “Final Destination: Bloodlines” with $307 million and “Weapons” with $251 million and counting.

Back in the spring, Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi epic “Mickey 17” with Robert Pattinson, as well as the Robert De Niro-led crime drama “The Alto Knights,” had set the studio back at least $110 million in losses. But the remaining lineup has delivered some enviable profit margins. Case in point: “Sinners” is expected to generate around $60 million in theatrical profits; “Superman” around $125 million; “Final Destination: Bloodlines” approximately $75 million; “Weapons” around $65 million (and counting), according to knowledgeable individuals. For “F1,” Warner Bros. was paid a flat distribution fee as well as a percentage of revenues in line with certain box office benchmarks, resulting in theatrical profits of roughly $34 million. Warner Bros. declined to comment. A studio insider disputed these figures without providing specific numbers; the source added that Warner Bros. has made roughly $600 million in combined year-to-date theatrical profits before counting the latest “Conjuring.”

Warner Bros. Makes Box Office History After 7 Movies Open Above $40 Million

Minecraft, James Gunn and Horror Saving Warner Bros!

Wow, Superman made almost 3x more profit than Man of Steel despite having a lower box office.

Many people saying it wasn't a great start for their new universe but now we know the numbers... not really. They must be really happy with this result considering DC mostly released flops after flops in theaters since 2019 with a few exceptions here and there.

Hopefully One Battle After Another doesn't disappoint and they finish the year on a high note but I doubt it lol

Yeah, I don't get the "bad start" narrative, quite frankly Warner Bros should count themselves lucky after they've spent the past 10 years dragging DC's name through the dirt, releasing a bunch of shitty films and box office flops, it's a credit to James Gunn that he has came out the gate strong despite all of this and this is only the start of repairing DC's image.

WB will be happy, hence why they're already rushing Gunn through what is next, the dude is an absolute machine, Lol. As long as something is profitable it's all good, but what we should care most about is the actual quality and there seems to be a bit of an obsession with Superman's box office performance and trying to spin it as a bad thing against the film when in actual fact it did well both commercially and critically and by comparison Suicide Squad made $749m at the box office but it was dog shit, Lol.

I'm especially glad of the performances coming from their horror-thriller outings mostly. Felt like the genre hasn't been this healthy since the beggining mid 2010's.

Weapons was certainly an interesting take on the genre's usual construct too. My favorite movie of the year so far.

Imma go see the Conjuring Final Rites this weekend too. Honestly, I'm surprised the franchise has remained so consistent since it's debut.