(NewsReady.com) – The 1973 movie “The Exorcist” is one of the most popular films in the horror genre. Millions of Americans have watched Regan’s head spin 360 degrees while the priests were trying to perform an exorcist.
While revivals are seemingly the next big thing, the latest installment of this film didn’t do very well during its first weekend at the box office.
“The Exorcist: Believer” made its theater debut on October 6. It made $27 million domestically and $44 million globally during its opening weekend. If one just looks at the $30 million budget, it might appear as though the film did well. In fact, it was the best opening weekend ever for one of the films in the franchise. However, there’s a $400 million factor to consider when trying to decide if it was a flop.
In July 2021, Universal shelled out $400 million to buy the franchise rights for a trilogy from Morgan Creek. So, performing well during its opening weekend was a big deal. According to sources, the film might have been the best of the franchise in terms of numbers, but it still fell below expectations.
The film has a 45-day window in movie theaters before it heads over to Peacock, where anyone with a subscription will be able to watch it. That puts a bit of pressure on its theater performance.
Deadline pointed out that the sequels to the original film were never a hit with audiences. Also, the website claimed the execution of the film was just bad. Critics have essentially called it boring and slammed Universal for not coming up with a new idea. Additionally, the marketing for the film was done poorly and didn’t generate a lot of hype.
If the other two films in the trilogy have the same issues at the box office, then it could result in a loss totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
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