With the incredible debut weekend of The Conjuring: Last Rites setting a number of new records in the box office for Warner Bros. and the Horror genre itself, there is no denying the impact Horror titles have made on the big screen this year.

In fact, of the seven titles in the streak of $40m+ debuts for Warner Bros. over the Summer, four are Horror titles.

Sinners, Final Destination: Bloodlines, Weapons, and The Conjuring: Last Rites (after its opening weekend alone) are the four highest-grossing Horror titles of 2025 so far. Sinners marks the first Horror title since 2019’s IT: Chapter 2 to gross over $200m in the domestic market, and for the first time since 2017, Horror titles have grossed a combined $1b in the domestic box office so far this year.

So with 2025 being a stand-out year for Horror on the big screen, we examined these top four titles to understand the audiences and trends driving that success.

A clear common interest

Across the board, all four titles saw significant outperformance among moviegoers aged 18-44, particularly those in the middle, aged 25-34. Where the benchmark for all movies sees 18.2% of the audience sitting in the age bracket, all four Horror titles had an attendance of over 30% from these moviegoers aged 25-34:

• The Conjuring: Last Rites — 32.2%
• Weapons — 30.5%
• Final Destination: Bloodlines — 31.5%
• Sinners — 31.5%

Taking a wider look, the combined age range of 18-44, which comprises 49.8% of the benchmark audience across all movies, hugely overperformed among these titles at more than 70% of each movie’s audience (74.8% for Last Rites, 70.4% for Weapons, 74.7% for Final Destination: Bloodlines, and 73% for Sinners).

This highlights a clear audience segment with great interest in the Horror genre, both for long-running franchise instalments and unique new stories.

Moviegoer frequency

Horror audiences are typically overrepresented by Frequent or Very Frequent moviegoers (those who attend 6-25 or 26+ sessions in 6 months), but for The Conjuring: Last Rites, Final Destination: Bloodlines, and Sinners, there was an overperformance of Infrequent moviegoers (those who attend < 2 sessions in 6 months).

Drawing out an Infrequent crowd is often key to a significant box office boost for a movie, and typically stands as a marker of a blockbuster success. Sinners in particular saw Infrequent moviegoers make up 45.9% of its audience, compared to a benchmark of 30.3% for all movies. While The Conjuring and Final Destination saw a spike among Very Frequent moviegoers, they also overperformed among Infrequents, at 38.4% and 31.9% respectively. This shows a strong appeal to both cinephiles who love the cinema experience, and moviegoers who typically need a big pull to attend.

The cinema experience was likewise a clear draw for these audiences, with all three titles overperforming significantly in PLF formats. Against a benchmark of 5.8% for PLF and IMAX format attendance for all movies, The Conjuring: Last Rites saw 23.8% during its opening weekend, Final Destination: Bloodlines saw 12.8%, and Sinners saw 12.3% with a particular draw for IMAX, given its film format.

Highlighting these titles as event movies, particularly given strong performances with group ticket purchases, could provide an excellent marketing opportunity for cinemas to drive their PLF experiences among these audiences.

Drawing a diverse audience

Diversity is another hallmark of the Horror audience, and one that is even more pronounced among these top four titles for 2025.

2025 overall has seen a high concentration of male-oriented films, with the average audience for the year being 57.9% male, compared to a benchmark of 54.6%.

So it’s no surprise that titles which can draw a more even gender split in their audiences, or higher numbers of female moviegoers have the ability to draw in a wider audience. As a genre, Horror typically has a slightly higher-than-average Female attendance compared to the benchmark of all movies.

Sinners, Final Destination: Bloodlines, and especially The Conjuring: Last Rites have seen more balanced gender representation in their audiences than benchmarks, with Last Rites seeing a near 50:50 split during its opening weekend at 49.2% female moviegoers.

The US Moviegoer Report, which Vista Group published earlier this year, showed that the US moviegoing audience is increasingly diverse, responding to the increasing diversity of representation and film offerings on the big screen.

Sinners particularly highlights the importance and impact of on-screen representation, with African American audiences for the title making up more than twice the benchmark for all movies (30.4% vs 12.8%). Latinx audiences for The Conjuring: Last Rites, Weapons, and Final Destination: Bloodlines likewise saw a very high overperformance, even compared to the wider Horror genre, at 40.4% for Last Rites, 38.3% for Weapons, and 35.7% for Final Destination, compared to the Horror benchmark of 22%.

The appeal of old and new alike

The success of Horror in 2025, particularly among these four titles, has shown two distinct appeals for moviegoers: new, original, and unique stories like Sinners and Weapons, as well as long-standing franchise appeal.

Word-of-mouth drove significant longevity for Sinners and hype for Weapons both ahead of release and in the following weeks, with both showing very strong holds. And after the last Conjuring universe movie’s underperformance, the enormous success for Last Rites breaking records in its opening weekend shows that long-running franchises still hold appeal.

It is a promising combination, with new titles seeing great reception and longevity, while the looming notion of franchise-fatigue that may be hurting other areas of the box office like the Superhero genre proves not to be a universal challenge. With a string of successes seeing diverse audiences, a draw of Infrequent moviegoers, and strong holds this year, Horror is sure to provide more great performances in the near future.

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*Frequency is based on a moviegoer's six-month session count:

< 2 = Infrequent
2-5 = Occasional
6-25 = Frequent
26+ = Very Frequent