Universal & Blumhouse’s ‘Exorcist: Believer’ Easily Heading To Franchise Record Opening Of $30M+ – Box Office Preview
03.10.2023 - 19:53
/ deadline.com
Universal/Blumhouse/Morgan Creek’s The Exorcist: Believer will continue horror’s head-spinning roll at the autumn box office with a $30M-$36M domestic start at 3,600 locations.
Currently, the R-rated reboot/sequel is trending demo-wise like The Nun 2, which saw a $32.6M opening, meaning it’s great with the 18-34 demographic, Hispanic and Latino audiences as well as older guys. Nun 2 skewed a tad more female at 52%, and it’s expected that this David Gordon Green-directed Exorcist installment will be around an even split as well. Universal will have Imax and PLF screens with previews starting Thursday at 5 p.m. We hear production cost of The Exorcist: Believer is $30M before P&A.
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In the midst of an actors strike where talent can’t promote, branded horror has posted solid openings with Nun 2 but also this past weekend with Saw X, which sliced off $18.3M and bounced the franchise back significantly from its all-time low start on previous chapter Spiral ($8.75M) by 109%. Saw X led all movies at the box office Monday with an estimated take of $1.56M, putting the tenthquel’s running total at $19.8M.
The big question is how Exorcist: Believer holds up once Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour hits cinemas on October 13. You’ll remember, Universal moved up Exorcist: The Believer by a week to stay out of the Swift storm.
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There’s a notion that while branded movies have better chances at the box office than original IP during an actors strike, i.e. The Creator‘s lighter start of $14M and Dumb Money‘s lackluster wide break
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