Universal/Blumhouse’s “The Exorcist: Believer” is off to a rather tepid start at the box office, earning $12 million on Friday and on pace for a $28 million opening weekend domestically and $47 million worldwide.
When compared to other horror films released this year, it’s not a bad start. “Exorcist: Believer” is sitting in between the $24.5 million earned by Warner Bros./New Line’s “Evil Dead Rise” this past spring and the $32 million opening of “The Nun II” last month. It’s only a couple steps below the projections of a $30 million start before release.
But according to The New York Times, Universal paid a massive $400 million to buy the franchise rights to “The Exorcist” back in 2021. While those rights also include other revenue streams such as Halloween mazes at Universal Studios theme parks, the center of this franchise revival is to be a new trilogy from David Gordon Green, with the second installment already slated for release in April 2025.
With that in mind, opening reception for “The Exorcist: Believer” looks like a very bad omen, getting panned by most critics with a 20% Rotten Tomatoes score. Audiences weren’t enthused either, with the horror film earning a C on CinemaScore, a full grade below the B given to “Saw X” last week. By comparison, the first installment of director David Gordon Green’s “Halloween” revival trilogy earned a 79% RT score in 2018 and a B+ on CinemaScore.
“Exorcist: Believer” and “Saw X” will be competing against each other for horror fans’ attention throughout October, as the Lionsgate sequel earned an estimated $8-9 million in its second weekend, taking the No. 3 spot on the charts and dropping 55% from its $18.3 million opening. We will see in the coming weeks whether the better reception for “Saw X,” which will have a 10-day domestic total of $32 million, will allow it to leg out farther than “Exorcist” or if the pedigree of Blumhouse’s film will leave a larger footprint.
In between the two fright flicks, Paramount/Spin Master’s “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” has carved out its own lane with families, earning $11.5 million in its second weekend to bring its running domestic total to $38.7 million.
