Spooky season, as it is commonly known, kicked off with September’s arrival. Admittedly, there is no one date for spooky season, but most believe it starts in September thanks to its proximity to Halloween. And the season got off to a flying start with a record-setting Thursday preview event for entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The news proved a winner for Warner, as shares shot up over 3% in the closing minutes of Friday’s trading.
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The record in question, reports note, was set by The Conjuring: Last Rites. Its preview hit yesterday, and the reports declare it a record. It brought in $8.5 million by itself, which actually represents the highest Thursday preview for any movie in the Conjuring universe so far. The previous winner went to The Nun, which brought in $5.4 million back in 2018.
Thus, there are already projections calling for Last Rites to pull in a $50 million weekend or better. Of course, this report should be taken with a grain of caution: horror movies are generally “front-loaded,” which means those who showed up for the preview are not likely to come back. The numbers did well, and it got better: exit polling indicated a 60% “definite recommend,” and that should be sufficiently positive word of mouth to fire up a proper whispering campaign and get folks to show up who were not at the preview screening.
An Old Familiar Face
Meanwhile, in a move that might give the upcoming Harry Potter series a hand, an old familiar face will be making his way back to Hogwarts. Warwick Davis, who played Filius Flitwick, will be coming back to the role he originally started in the film series. The news came out as part of the Back to Hogwarts event, which shows up every year on September 1 as part of a “…global celebration of all things Harry Potter….”
While the series itself is not set to fire up until 2027, this is likely to help build interest ahead of the premiere, which is still over a year out. Having one of the original actors back will likely add authenticity to the proceedings, and give this series a little extra boost.
Is WBD Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on WBD stock based on 10 Buys and seven Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 63.02% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WBD price target of $13.86 per share implies 14.55% upside potential.
