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The horror sequel raked in $83 million domestically in 3,802 theaters, making it the third-highest domestic opening for a horror movie, behind “It” and “It: Chapter Two.” It’s now the largest horror opening internationally, with $104 million in earnings outside of North American theaters.

The film also broke records for the “Conjuring” universe, securing the biggest opening weekend in the franchise. The movie’s performance is a testament to the franchise’s success in producing classic horror movies since the first film released in 2013, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for the data firm Comscore.

“Audiences know when they go in to see ‘The Conjuring,’ the minute this scary, ominous music comes up with the Warner’s logo, you know you’re in for a wild ride,” Dergarabedian said.

The film has received mixed reviews from critics, carrying a 55% on Rotten Tomatoes and a “B” CinemaScore.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return to the big screen in the ninth installment of “The Conjuring” as the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren who attempt to vanquish a demon from a family’s home.

“Last Rites” also handed Warner Bros. Pictures yet another opening weekend box office win, becoming the distributor’s eighth No. 1 debut win this year and the studio’s seventh film in a row to debut with over $40 million domestically.

The movie’s opening weekend numbers are nearly double that of other successful horror movies this year, including Zach Cregger’s August sleeper hit “Weapons,”“Final Destination: Bloodlines” and “Sinners” — all of which are Warner Bros. releases.

“It just shows how arguably more than any other genre, horror has stood the test of time,” Dergarabedian said. “That’s because there’s nothing quite like seeing a horror movie in a darkened room full of strangers.”

The horror genre last crossed the $1 billion mark in 2023. Meeting that threshold this early in the year is unprecedented, Dergarabedian said, “because usually you need a full year of horror movie box office to bank that much cash.”

Upcoming horror films like “Black Phone 2” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” are likely to boost that number, Dergarabedian said.

“Last Rites” blew past other titles at the box office this weekend. Disney’s filmed version of “Hamilton” landed in second place with $10 million domestically. The film was “perfect counterprogramming” to “Last Rights,” Dergarabedian said.

The rest of the top spots were taken by several holdover titles. “Weapons” secured third place during its fifth weekend, bringing in $5.4 million in earnings in North American theaters. The movie’s debut partner, “Freakier Friday” took fourth place with $3.8 million.

The crime caper “Caught Stealing,” which debuted last weekend, rounded out the top five with $3.2 million in domestic earnings.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” $83 million.

2. “Hamilton,” $10 million.

3. “Weapons,” $5.4 million.

4. “Freakier Friday,” $3.8 million.

5. “Caught Stealing,” $3.2 million.

6. “The Roses,” $2.8 million.

7. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” $2.8 million.

8. “The Bad Guys 2,” $2.5 million.

9. “Light of the World,” $2.4 million.

10. “Superman,” $1 million.

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Kate McKinnon has revealed she was diagnosed with geographic tongue.

During a recent interview with People magazine, the Saturday Night Live alum opened up about the “inflammatory but harmless condition affecting the surface of the tongue,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

“I took a photo of my tongue and sent it to an actor friend of mine,” she said when asked about the most recent photo she took on her phone. “We both have the same medical condition. It’s called geographic tongue. Your tongue sheds in patches and looks like an atlas, hence the name ‘geographic tongue.’”

With geographic tongue, patches on the surface of the tongue are missing papillae, which are tiny, pinkish-white bumps, the Mayo Clinic states. The patches will typically appear in one area and then move to a different part of the tongue. While the condition doesn’t cause health issues, it can sometimes cause tongue pain or make it more sensitive to certain foods, including spices, salt and sweets.

“It’s gross,” McKinnon added. “We brag about how geographic we are on any given day. Maybe I shouldn’t be saying this in a magazine.”

After starring on SNL for 10 years, she left the long-running sketch comedy show in 2022 after the conclusion of season 47. She later returned to host in 2023 during season 49.

McKinnon has also starred in the blockbuster Barbie and, more recently, The Roses, alongside Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch and Andy Samberg. The latter film follows Ivy and Theo, a dysfunctional married couple played by Colman and Cumberbatch, whose picture-perfect life together gets upended when Ivy’s career takes off, but Theo gets fired from his job. McKinnon and Samberg play friends of the troubled couple.

Wagner Moura is no stranger to intense roles, but his latest performance in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent” may be the one that defines his career, at least to U.S. audiences.

The Brazilian actor, known to American audiences from Netflix’s “Narcos,” won the best actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of Marcelo, a technology expert swept up in the political turmoil of Brazil’s waning dictatorship in 1977. Since then, the film has been on the festival circuit, making stops at the Telluride Film Festival, and now TIFF, building more buzz and launching Moura into serious contention for best actor.

Set during Recife’s carnival, the historical political thriller follows Marcelo as he attempts to flee persecution while reconnecting with his estranged son. For Moura, the role was both a homecoming and a reckoning.

“It was liberating to do something in Portuguese again,” Moura tells Variety. “The last time I acted in my language was more than a decade ago. To return to my home, to Recife, to work with Kleber — it was like going back to the roots of why I became an actor.”

Moura and Mendonça Filho’s connection dates back nearly two decades, when the actor first encountered the director’s shorts and, later, his breakthrough “Neighboring Sounds.” Moura recalls meeting him at Cannes in 2005, when Mendonça Filho was still a critic.

“He’s my cinematic soulmate,” Moura shares. “He’s deeply political, but also deeply Brazilian. He can take influences from American films of the 1970s — the lenses, the structure — and make it something that belongs only to Brazil. That’s rare.”

That creative fusion paid off at Cannes. “The Secret Agent” was one of the festival’s most celebrated titles, winning best director, the FIPRESCI Prize and the Art House Cinema Award, alongside Moura’s own acting honor. It would be picked up by Neon, and is now getting a full-court Oscar campaign, seeking noms for international feature and even, best picture.

Though Marcelo is the central character, the film’s emotional heart lies in his fractured relationship with his son Fernando. Moura admits he approached the roles in stages, first inhabiting Marcelo fully before considering Fernando.

“I wanted people to feel like they were watching two different people,” he says. “For me, it was about imagining what it meant for a child to grow up not knowing his father. I have three sons myself. My father passed away. That father-and-son theme — that’s what moves me the most as an actor.”
He compares the emotional intensity to playing Hamlet in his early 30s. “That was the greatest acting experience of my life. And this film touched the same part of me.”

If Moura’s performance in “The Secret Agent” translates into an Oscar nomination, it would mark a historic milestone. In nearly a century of the Academy Awards, only five Latino men have ever been nominated for best actor — including José Ferrer, Anthony Quinn, Edward James Olmos, Demián Bichir and Colman Domingo. Moura would not only join their ranks as the sixth, but he would also be the first Brazilian ever recognized in the category, coming one year after Fernanda Torres from “I’m Still Here” became the second in best actress, following her mother Fernanda Montenegro 30 years earlier. “I’m Still Here” also picked up a surprise (and earned) best picture nomination, and went on to win international feature, the first for the country of Brazil.

Since “Narcos,” Moura has been selective about his roles in the United States. “Can you imagine the amount of offers I got to play drug dealers after that?” he says, shaking his head. “I felt a responsibility as a Latino actor not to reinforce stereotypes. I want the same kinds of roles any white American actor would be offered. That’s the real fight.”

He recalls constantly pushing for his characters to be Brazilian rather than generically “Latino.” “It’s strange — people rarely think of Brazilians when they say Latino. But I insist on it. Why not Brazilian?”
Beyond acting, Moura is stepping behind the camera again. His 2017 feature “Marighella” tackled dictatorship head-on. Next up is “Last Night at the Lobster,” an English-language adaptation of Stewart O’Nan’s novel, produced by Peter Saraf (“Little Miss Sunshine”). The film, which he describes as an “anti-capitalist Christmas movie,” will star Elisabeth Moss, Brian Tyree Henry and Sofia Carson. Set in a Red Lobster franchise about to close during a snowstorm a week before Christmas, the story blends American holiday traditions with European realism.

“It’s about empathy and generosity. There’s no magic from Santa Claus. The magic comes from people,” Moura says.

The themes of “The Secret Agent” — memory, truth and resilience — resonate beyond Brazil. Moura sees echoes between his country’s recent struggles and the United States’ own democratic challenges.
“Brazilians know what dictatorship is. Americans don’t,” he says bluntly. “That’s why we were efficient in defending democracy when our institutions were attacked. Here in the U.S., people sometimes take democracy for granted. That scares me.”

He worries about truth itself becoming malleable. “Facts don’t exist anymore. There are only versions, narratives. That’s dangerous.”

With “The Secret Agent” opening in Brazil this November through Vitrine Filmes, Moura stands at a new crossroads in his international career. Still, he remains grounded. “It’s about sticking to your values in tough times,” he shares. “That’s what this film is about. That’s what I want my sons to remember.”

Dua Lipa continued her tradition of performing geographic-minded covers during the singer’s visit to Chicago this weekend, bringing out Windy City native Chaka Khan on Friday before performing an Earth, Wind & Fire classic on Saturday.

At her first Radical Optimism show at the United Center on Friday, Lipa welcomed the Rock Hall-inducted Khan to the stage to join her on the 1983 Rufus single “Ain’t Nobody.” “I GOT TO SING WITH THE QUEEN OF FUNK,” Lipa exclaimed on social media following the duet:

The following night, Lipa delivered another funk classic from a Chicago act, this time performing a faithful rendition of Earth, Wind & Fire’s ubiquitous “September”: 

Dua Lipa’s Australian and New Zealand tour — where her regional covers trend started — saw the singer perform the likes of AC/DC, Lorde, and Kylie Minogue, while also bringing out guests like Troye Sivan, Tame Impala, and Crowded House’s Neil Finn. The local covers have continued — though less frequently — as the tour headed to Europe, with Lipa covering Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero” in Madrid.

When the trek reached the U.K. at London’s Wembley Stadium, Lipa performed Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity” with help from that group’s singer Jay Kay. The following night at the same venue, she brought out Charli XCX for a rendition of that singer’s “360.”

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The tour then shifted to Liverpool, where Lip performed the Zutons’ “Valerie” — popularized by Amy Winehouse” — with the group’s singer Dave McCabe. The next show, in the birthplace of the Beatles, Lipa covered the Fab Four’s “Hey Jude.” In Dublin, Lipa did “a song by a late Irish legend,” Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

The Radical Optimism Tour has since crossed the Atlantic, opening with two shows in Toronto last week with two more regional covers, Nelly Furtado’s “Like A Bird” and Mustafa’s “Name of God.” Following the Chicago shows, Lipa next heads to Boston, home of artists like Pixies, Aerosmith, and the Modern Lovers to name a few possible options for the singer.