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From all of us horror fans here at Popverse (that's mostly everybody), we want to send huge congratulations to Michael Chaves and Co., as the just-opened The Conjuring: Last Rites has officially become the highest-earning horror movie over an theatrical opening weekend in history, worldwide. This stellar accomplishment from the Patrick Wilson/Vera Farmiga-starrer also means that the film has dethroned the former, long-running No. 1 in the same spot, Andy Muschietti's 2017 adaptation of IT.

The news comes out of Deadline, who updated a piece that had the latest Conjuring film in the No. 2 spot until the afternoon of Monday, September 8. Specifically, Deadline reports the final film in the blockbuster Conjuring franchise as having raked in $194M in its global opening weekend, skipping ahead of 2017 Stephen King shocker It's $189.7M that was recorded after the same amount of time in theaters (also reported by Deadline that year).

Now, an accomplishment like this is sure to have some on the internet butting heads, especially considering that both It and Last Rites come from franchises with massive fanbases. But I'd like to reframe this thing a little - instead of the idea of Last Rites stealing away anyone's spot, let's instead focus on the fact that the 2025 box office is having an incredible time with horror fare. Remember Sinners' bloodcurdling numbers over this summer? Or more recently, the explosive stories coming out of Weapons' earnings? If you ask me (and all of us horror fans here at Popverse), this isn't a case of wins or losses, it's a rising tide raising all boats.

Even if those boats are made of paper and heading toward a very suspicious storm drain.

The Conjuring: Last Rites is in theaters now. IT: Chapters One and Two are streaming on HBO Max.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." Join Popverse's weekly explorations of the best opening moments of horror cinema in The Coldest Open, and then check out:

• The best horror movies of all time, according to horror aficionado Greg Silber
• The most underrated horror movies from the past couple years
• All the new and upcoming horror movies for 2025 and beyond

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.