Film 'Conclave' and pope books popular in wake of Francis' death

25 Apr 2025 19:54
Berlin (dpa)Following the death of the Pope, many people want to see Edward Berger's Vatican drama "Conclave" or read the novel on which it is based. The film, which was released last year and has a star-studded cast, including Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini, was nominated for five Oscars and won the Best Adapted Screenplay category for writer Peter Straughan. The New York Times, citing figures from the tracking firm Luminate, said data showed a 3,200% increase in viewership compared to the previous week.The drama deals with the internal power mechanisms of the Catholic Church during the papal election, which will take place in real life, as Catholic officials prepare to meet to select the next pope.Viewing on Amazon Prime, which made the film free for its US subscribers on Tuesday, skyrocketed to 6.9 million minutes watched on Monday compared to 966,000 the previous Monday, the paper said. The film is currently number one in the video charts for purchase and rental titles on Amazon Prime in Germany and Austria, a spokesman said. A week ago, the title was not even in the top 10. "Conclave" has also been re-released in selected cinemas.Germany's Yorck cinema group announced that it was bringing the film back tothe big screen. The film adaptation is based on a book by British author Robert Harris. This is also currently in higher demand, a spokeswoman for German publishers Heyne Verlag said in response to a query. The recently published autobiography of Pope Francis, who died last Monday, is also currently experiencing a sales boom.A spokeswoman for Penguin Publishing said on request that "all of the Pope's books from our publishing house are currently in very high demand and there is enormous interest in his work and his life story."
Among them, his autobiography "Hope," which was only published in January, is certainly the most important title for us."

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