“ The Conjuring: Last Rites ” busted past all expectations in its debut weekend to make it lucky No. 7 of a streak of successful openings at the box office for distributor Warner Bros. Pictures.

On today’s episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, Rebecca Rubin, Variety’ s box office chief, breaks down the strong showing for film No. 9 in the “Conjuring” horror franchises. With a total haul of more than $83 million, the film delivered about $20 million more at the domestic box office than was forecast. It also performed surprisingly well for a horror title on Imax screens.

“This is the seventh consecutive movie for Warner Bros. to open above $40 million,” Rubin says. “They are the first studio in history to ever achieve that consistent streak. And it’s also notable because they had a prett

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