The Exorcist: Believer topped the Friday box office with $11.9 million, including $2.9 million in previews. At this pace, the R-rated horror pic should open to $28 million domestically, a tepid number considered the high price paid for rights to the series.
Globally, the film looks to open to $47.1 million for the weekend.
The David Gordon Green-directed horror pic hits theaters exactly 50 years after the first Exorcist opened and made cinema history. Blumhouse and Universal teamed on Believer after Universal reportedly paid a huge $400 million for the rights in 2021 (two more sequels are already planned).
Blumouse and Green were widely praised when reviving the marquee Halloween franchise. (2007’s Halloween opened to a terrifyingly great $72.2 million). Exorcist: The Believer had hoped to snag $30 million to $36 million in its first weekend.
It’s hard to say how much bad reviews are hurting Believer. It’s critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes is a terrible 20 percent.
The good news: audiences are giving it solid marks, according to PostTrak audience exit polls. The pic did, however, receive a CinemaScore, which is commonplace for the horror genre.
For the first time since the 1973 film, Burstyn reprises her iconic role as Chris MacNeil, an actress who has been forever altered by what happened to her daughter Regan five decades before.The film centers on Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.), whose daughter (Lidya Jewett) and her friend (Olivia Marcum) become possessed.
Exorcist: Believer rolls out in its firs 40 international markets this weekend.
Horror is the star of the fall box office so far, led The Nun II, which debuted to $32.6 million several weeks ago. Last week, slasher pic Saw II opened to $18.6 million.
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