Conclave‘s viewership numbers have officially skyrocketed. This comes after Pope Francis pᴀssed away on Monday, April 21, at the age of 88. Thematically, Conclave is a 2024 movie about the aftermath of a fictional Pope’s death, chronicling the highly secretive papal election that ensues. The film was directed by Edward Berger and features a leading cast including Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Lucian Msamati, Isabella Rossellini, and Jacek Koman. The movie was nominated for multiple Oscars and won Best Adapted Screenplay.
Per Wired, Conclave has seen a major viewership spike in the wake of Pope Francis’ death. According to the source, the film’s viewership sH๏τ up 283%. The movie had 1.8 million minutes watched on April 20, and 6.9 million minutes on April 21, the day of the pope’s death. These numbers come from Luminate. The Netflix movie The Two Popes also saw an increase in viewership, increasing by 417%.
What This Means For Conclave
Conclave Also Did Well In Theaters
Following the death of Pope Francis, Conclave is more relevant than ever. The real-life conclave will start shortly, as the process happens no earlier than 16 days and no later than 21 days after the pope’s death. This year, that means that the papal election will begin around May 6 to May 12. With Conclave available to stream, audiences will likely keep watching the film as they may want to develop a greater understanding of how these elections work.
Conclave‘s post-mortem streaming success comes after the film fared decently in theaters. The movie ended up making $115.6 million worldwide, which is a sizable total given the film’s estimated $20 million budget. Conclave also received positive reviews, getting a 93% Tomatometer and an 86% Popcornmeter among audiences. ScreenRant‘s Graeme Guttmann gave the film 9 out of 10 stars, writing, “Watching actors like Lithgow, Fiennes, and Tucci chew scenery in some of the oldest buildings in the world is like a drug for anyone that loves character actors.“
Our Take On Conclave’s Streaming Success
Conclave Could Have Prolonged Success
Not only is Conclave Vatican-centric, but its recent release makes it fresh in audience’s minds. It will likely be most popular in the immediate days following the pᴀssing of Pope Francis, but I would not be surprised if it has some prolonged success over the next few days or weeks. After all, it is the real-life conclave that will most match the events of the film. While Conclave‘s twist ending is almost certain not to play out in reality, it will be interesting to see how much of the discourse surrounding the papal election mirrors that of the film.
Source: Wired
