The Conjuring has emerged as a crowd-pulling series worldwide and India is no exception. The Conjuring: Last Rites is all set to release this Friday, September 5, and the response to the advance booking in India has been phenomenal. It has brought relief to the exhibitors after a not-so-great August.

As of 6:00 pm on September 3, The Conjuring: Last Rites has sold 85,000 tickets in the national chains, that is, PVR, Inox and Cinepolis. This is more than the tickets sold by Barbie (2023; 80,000 tickets) and at par with the advance booking of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023; 85,000 tickets). Looking at the trends, the advance will pick up tomorrow and there’ll also be heavy spot booking on the day of release, especially in mass centres, where this series has found an audience.

As a result, it won’t be wrong to say that The Conjuring: Last Rites will sell 1 lakh tickets by Thursday night. Once that happens, it’ll cross the advance sales of Fast X (2023), which sold around 1 lakh tickets in advance and opened at Rs. 11.90 crores. In other words, the horror saga is set for a double-digit opening. Warner Bros has also organized paid-previews at around 11:30 pm and 11:59 pm on Thursday, September 4. The response to it has been encouraging as well. In fact, the collections of paid previews and day 1 can be as high as Rs. 13-14 crores; a clearer picture would emerge as the release day nears.

If the word of mouth is positive, The Conjuring: Last Rites will record a strong weekend. The collections would be huge on Tuesday, when tickets would be sold at discounted rates. With no major competition from other Hollywood films, it can have a long run and possibly even cross the Rs. 100 crores mark. It’ll be the first Hollywood horror film to achieve this feat.

The trade is not surprised with such a response, as The Conjuring 2 (2016) collected Rs. 61.78 crores, which was quite commendable for its time. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), however, performed poorly as it had a delayed release in India due to the pandemic. By the time it hit cinemas in the country, many had seen it on pirated prints. The word of mouth also wasn’t favourable and moreover, the crucial state of Maharashtra was shut. As a result, it earned just Rs. 7.45 crores from 786 screens. It’s evident that the tepid response to that film hasn’t affected The Conjuring: Last Rites.

 The Conjuring: Last Rites is backed by Warner Bros and they are on a high this year. F1: The Movie crossed the Rs. 100 crores mark earlier this week, the first film of the studio to do so. The Conjuring: Last Rites could be the next one, if reports are on its side. Moreover, when it comes to horror films from Hollywood, Warner Bros is ahead by miles as all 6 highest Hollywood grossers in India belong to the reputed Hollywood production house. Interestingly, 4 of them belong to The Conjuring-The Nun-Annabelle Universe.

Recently, Final Destination Bloodlines, also backed by Warner Bros, broke the 9-year record of The Conjuring 2 and became the highest grossing Hollywood horror film in India. Looking at the response to The Conjuring: Last Rites’ advance, the record might be broken in a mere few months.

The highest-grossing horror films of Hollywood in India (Nett Figures)

1. Final Destination Bloodlines – Rs. 62.12 crores
2. The Conjuring 2 – Rs. 61.80 crores
3. Annabelle: Creation – Rs. 48.45 crores
4. The Nun – Rs. 47.65 crores
5. The Nun II – Rs. 44 crores
6. Evil Dead Rise – Rs. 36.50 crores