Let the resurrection begin.

Jolting the box office back to life in a major way, New Line’s The Conjuring: Last Rites scared up a franchise-best $8.5 million in Thursday previews in yet another win for the Warner Bros. film empire. That’s also the biggest franchise gross of the year to date for a horror film after passing up the $5.8 million earned in previews by Sony’s 28 Years Later .

The news only gets better from there. The R-rated film is showing no signs of slowing down at the Friday box office, and is now on course to top the chart with a franchise-best debut of $65 million-plus from 3,802 theaters (rivals think $70 million is even possible). That’s almost double the $35 million projection provided by New Line and parent company Warners heading into the weekend, although

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