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THE POPE'S EXORCIST opening | RENFIELD opening | SUZUME opening | 1st quarter franchise films | April 14 to 16, 2023 weekend

Opening weekend box office, charts and commentary

David A. Gross

Apr 16, 2023

1) The Pope's Exorcist opening

- This is a solid opening for a modestly-budgeted original horror film. Russell Crowe's presence and the loaded title should help it abroad. Horror has become a crowded genre, but at a reasonable cost of $18m, the movie should be profitable:

2) Renfield opening

- This is a lukewarm opening for a horror comedy. Reviews are mixed. Renfield was an expensive production at an est. cost of $65m+ — that’s a long climb to profitability, even with solid ancillary business:

3) Suzume opening

- This is a soft domestic opening by Crunchyroll's impressive anime standards. Reviews are outstanding. These movies play quickly after fans see them during the first weekend. Like all Crunchyroll movies, Suzume has done big business in Asia (it just crossed $100m in China, plus $104.7m in Japan, and $29.9m in Korea — sensational):

Suzume is a youth fantasy adventure, while Crunchyroll's strongest U.S. performers have been their action thrillers like Demon Slayer and Dragon Ball. This is the 6th Crunchyroll wide release in the U.S. during the last 13 months. That's a significant increase over the previous three years.
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4) 1st quarter 2023 franchise films

- During the 1st quarter 2023, there were 13 franchise releases, which is the pre-pandemic norm. The domestic openings averaged $31.1m (not including Super Mario, which opened in the 2nd quarter). Reviews have been very good.

- These are healthy numbers. Big movies like these keep every facet of the industry humming, from development, to production, to post & effects, to marketing & distribution. They pay the bills, cover risk-taking, and sell a lot of popcorn.

Titles include: Ant-Man 3, John Wick 4, Creed III, Scream VI, Dungeons & Dragons, M3gan, Shazam! 2, Demon Slayer 2, Missing, Magic Mike 3, The Chosen 3, House Party 4, and Left Behind 2:

The average episode number for these films was 3.3, compared with 2.9 before the pandemic. In other words, the series are aging. It’s natural, and it’s why generating new franchises is so important to the health of the business. We'll have those numbers next weekend.