Sony’s Screen Gems went up against Universal Studios at the box office this weekend, with horror movies The Pope’s Exorcist and Renfield opening up on the very same day.
Which film debuted with a stronger opening weekend? Well, The Pope’s Exorcist came in at #2 on the domestic box office charts, while Renfield debuted in the #4 spot.
The Pope’s Exorcist scared up $9 million domestically and $27.4 million internationally, for a worldwide debut of $36.5 million. Universal’s horror-comedy Renfield didn’t fare nearly as well, securing just $7.7 million domestically and a limp $10 million worldwide thus far.
Now here’s the real story here. The Pope’s Exorcist carries a production budget of just $18 million, while Renfield reportedly cost a whopping $65 million for Universal. In other words, Renfield has a LONG ways to go before it even starts being profitable, while the $36.5 million worldwide debut for The Pope’s Exorcist already brings the film close to profitability.
Interesting to note, Renfield is the film with the better reviews, but it’s not hard to see why The Pope’s Exorcist has more mass appeal than a bloody-as-hell horror-comedy about a side character from the original Dracula tale. Horror-comedies can often be a tough sell at the box office, and the Russell Crowe of it all surely helped The Pope’s Exorcist prevail this weekend.
In The Pope’s Exorcist, “Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s leading exorcist, investigates the possession of a child and uncovers a conspiracy the Vatican has tried to keep secret.”
And in Renfield, “Dracula’s henchman (Nicholas Hoult) longs for a life away from the Count (Nicolas Cage), his various demands, and all of the bloodshed that comes with them.”
‘Renfield’
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