Talk about the scary box office streak.
“The Conjuring: Last Rites” was extended for the seventh consecutive release of Warner Bros., over $40 million, as it won the best domestic franchise in its $83 million franchise and $187 million worldwide over the weekend. No other studio has achieved that level of consistency at the box office.
After some terrible theatrical stretches with guys like “Joker: Folly A Dew” in 2024 and this March’s “Mickey 17” and “Altonites,” Warner Bros.’s fate began to recover with April’s video game adaptation, “Minecraft Film” (a $162 million debut). The studio’s turnarounds followed by Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s vampire striller “The Sinner” ($48 million), including summer offering quartet “The Final Destination Bloodline” ($51.6 million), Brad Pitt’s “F1: Film” ($57 million), “Superman” ($155 million), and Sach Krenger’s “Superman” ($125 million) in Sach Krenger’s “Superman” ($125 million) in Sach Krenger’s “Superman” ($125 million) in Sach Krenger’s “Superman” ($125 million).
What’s even better is that all of these films were filled up beyond the weekend’s opening. This is a fate that some major releases have not been able to achieve recently. (For example, Disney’s “Fantastic Four: First Step” and “Thunderbolt” fell sharply after their promised debut.) “Minecraft Movie” is the biggest producer of the $957 million studio globally, followed by “F1” (Warner Bros. distributed to Apple), followed by “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, “Superman”, and “Superman”. Bloodlines” counts at $337 million and “Weapons” at $251 million.
“Warner Bros. has a great run,” says David A. Gross, analyst at Franchise Entertainment Research. “The studio has made outstanding choices, took some major creative risks and they’re rewarded.”
Back in the spring, Bon Jun Ho’s sci-fi epic “Mickey 17” with Robert Pattinson, and the Robert De Niro-led crime drama “Alto Knights” have returned to losses of at least $110 million. However, the remaining lineup provided enviable profit margins. A proper case: “Sinner” is expected to generate around $60 million in theater profits. “Superman” is approximately $125 million. “Final Destination: Bloodline” Approximately $75 million. According to a knowledgeable individual, “weapons” are around $65 million (and count). For “Formula 1,” Warner Bros. received a percentage of revenues along with a specific box office revenue and a theatre profit of approximately $34 million. Warner Bros declined to comment. Studio Insiders disputed these numbers without providing specific numbers. Sources added that before counting the latest “Conjour,” Warner Bros. added that it made around $600 million in total theatre profits from the start of the year.
Thanks to the dramatic turnaround, Warner Bros. movie group co-ops Michael De Luka and Pam Abi are completely out of the hot seat. That wasn’t the case a few months ago, given the studio’s late 2024 and early 2025 box office disasters. Just before De Luca and Abdy, we had to tackle a steady stream of headlines about whether they would continue working. Surprise shakeups helped to increase uncertainty in the studio.
“The studio is getting hotter and the studio is getting colder,” adds Gross. “At the very last minute they weathered a long, bad run. It won’t last forever. They’ll remember this when they go to cold steaks. That happens too. That’s always the case.”
These oversized victories put a little pressure on Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic “one battle” that will open in the second half of September. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, costs at least $130 million to produce and costs around $300 million at the box office. For context, Anderson’s most-selling film was 2007’s “Where Will Blood,” a western that earned $76.4 million worldwide.
“One Battle Afterluge” is the studio’s final release of the year. Then, in 2026, Warner Bros. will deliver the “Wuthering Heights” remake of Emerald Fennel with two DC adventures: The Bride, the $80 million “Frankenstein” spinoffs directed by Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi and Maggie Gyllenhaal, two DC adventures: “The Bride,” and “Supergirl” and “Clayface.” There are also untitled films: Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor-led original sci-fi thriller Flowervale Street, video game sequel Mortal Kombat II, Birdman director Alejandro G. Inarritu and Star Tom Cruise, and Dune Part 3. On paper it looks more like a genre fare and another dangerous slate spotlighting filmmaker-driven originals than time-tested franchises. But once again, most of the studio’s 2025 slates didn’t enter the theater as a guaranteed hit. And we know how those bets paid off.
