It'll be interesting to see how it does in the coming weeks.
Horror movies have a history of dropping sharply after their opening weekend. That's just a trend, though, of course. Maybe Believer can defy it.
I know it was originally supposed to release this weekend but they moved it one week early because Taylor Swift decided to release her concert movie on the 13th and they knew her fans would pack every theater in the country. So I unfortunately don't think any other movie besides hers will make much money, but we'll see. I hope it does well worldwide, too.
shareI doubt it will have 'long legs' because word of mouth is negative, reviews are negative, came up a bit short of the 28M forecast.
This was a much bigger gamble than Blumhouse's Halloween movies (the first one cost only 10 million to produce, plus advertising).
Just the rights for this Exorcist trilogy were 400M + 30M Believer production budget, plus advertising.
Halloween (2018) Opening Weekend 77M
Halloween Kills OW = 50M
Halloween Ends OW = 40M
Exorcist Believer OW = 27M (ouch!)
I have no hope on Believer grossing more than 13M next weekend.
Will likely end its entire domestic run with less money than Halloween (2018)'s opening weekend.
I think you're right.
Looking at what they paid, they must have been expecting it to do similar numbers to Green's Halloween movies, if not a little better at least.
Originally tracking to open at 35M
By opening weekend the forecast was 28M
By Sunday morning opening weekend estimate was 27.2M
Actual opening weekend was 26.5M
This movie is going to drop like a rock next weekend with Taylor Swift's concert film, the Exorcist Believer will have been long forgotten.. Bet the studio never wishes they touched this with a ten foot pole after this weak opening??
share$85M WW now
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2047378177/?ref_=bo_da_table_2
Not bad for a thirty million dollar movie, but I think the studio that bought the rights to it was hoping for more.
shareI think it's not even the straight up rights... WB retains the overall rights... Universal bought rights but only like a license to produce an Exorcist trilogy. But I believe WB has the franchise rights to keep producing more content from this IP.
shareI'm very glad it's proven itself to be a financial success. Although critics tore it apart, people wanted to make up their own minds so they've seen it anyway and I think that's great. Now it's made nearly 3 times its budget.
shareBut you're still missing the big factor in this is paying $400 Million for the rights to this and despite costing $30 Million to make, $400 Million and then some is an awful long way off and very possible the other 2 movies will go straight to Peacock which is never good.. They really should've just left well enough alone.. It's a good thing Blumhouse and DGG didn't know Piper Laurie was still alive, otherwise we damn well would've ended up seeing the CARRIE LEGACY TRILOGY while crapping on the oiriginal..
shareBut what does that deal include? Is it just so they could make their trilogy or are they making money off the other 5 films, the TV show, and all the Exorcist merchandise out there as well? There is also an Exorcist maze at Halloween Horror Nights and I know millions of people go there each year. It should make a lot of that money back. That's not to mention whatever the movie will make on Digital, Blu-ray/DVD, and eventually Peacock.
If the deal really even happened, which I have my doubts. It could just be a rumor that got blown out of all proportion. Did Fox have to pay that much to make their TV show? I don't think they owned the rights before.
So far Universal has invested without taking into account any marketing... over 430 million between a license to produce a trilogy (rights) and the production budget of this installment. Having grossed 90 million worldwide is not what I would qualify as a financial success. I doubt they are happy and were expecting similar performance to their Halloween movies.
Remember Universal does not keep the entire 90 million either... they split it with the movie theaters and they get a smaller cut each passing week... also smaller cuts from many international markets... so far they have recovered somewhere in the 50 million range.
Traditionally no Exorcist movie beyond the first has been a big moneymaker. "Requels" are the big trend of the moment and supernatural horror has been pretty big the past 10-15 years with Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring, and Insidious proving to be 3 of the biggest horror franchises of the 21st century. But neither of those things guarantee an Exorcist sequel would be a huge success.
The first time anyone tried to make a sequel, it was called "one of the worst horror movies of all time." And Warner Bros. wasted so much money making 2 prequels before. Scrapping an entire $30 million movie when they didn't have faith in it and paying $50 million to make another, only for it to flop as well. Besides the first, only the 3rd has a bit of a cult following. Frankly, it would be naive and a little dumb for them to gamble that much when the franchise hasn't done so great in the past. And I don't think a reputable studio would do something that stupid. I still believe the $400 million is either an Internet rumor that grew out of control or they must have the rights to the entire franchise and its merchandising.