It’s always interesting to see how the news can dictate what people watch. Case in point: When news broke that Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, died on April 21, it sent two movies surging up the streaming charts on various platforms. One of those movies was The Two Popes, a 2019 Netflix film in which Jonathan Pryce played Francis in a fictionalized account of his relationship with Pope Benedict the 16th, played by Anthony Hopkins. The second was Conclave, last year’s thriller from director Edward Berger, which depicts an imagined papal conclave, where the College of Cardinals take to Vatican City to elect a new pope.
According to Luminate, U.S. streaming for The Two Popes increased to 1.5 million minutes and viewership for Conclave jumped to 6.9 million minutes on the day of Francis’ death.
And the draw to both movies made sense, but for different reasons. For viewers looking to thoughtfully consider the life of Pope Francis, The Two Popes was an apt watch, as it deals directly with who Francis was. **But for many viewers who had seen Conclave clips all throughout this most recent award season, the news surrounding a real-life conclave was suddenly reason enough to go back and watch the movie. And those viewers were rewarded with a thrilling watch, with Conclave’s Oscar-winning screenplay by Peter Straughan and its star-studded acting ensemble, which won the most recent SAG Award for Best Performance by A Cast. While its depicted events may not bear much resemblance to our reality, Conclave is a thought-provoking barn burner of a film that can give audiences a point of reference for what a really intense and exciting version of a papal conclave might be.
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