As the Vatican prepares for the election of a new pope, many around the world are doing their own preparations \u2014 by watching a movie about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After news of Pope Francis\u2019 death<\/a> broke Monday, the film \u201cConclave\u201d had a viewership boost across streaming platforms it was available to watch on, according to Luminate, an entertainment data analytics company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Edward Berger\u2019s drama, which won the Oscar\u2002<\/a>this year\u2002<\/a>for best adapted screenplay<\/a>, goes behind the scenes of the Vatican for the secretive process of electing a pope. The process is complicated further by power-hungry cardinals, played by Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow. (The film\u2019s distributor is Focus Features, a unit of NBC News\u2019 parent corporation, Comcast.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since its release in October, the movie has spawned a fervent fan base online, with many social media users circulating a slew of viral memes and passionate fan edits comparing it to pop culture staples like \u201cThe Real Housewives\u201d and \u201cMean Girls.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Existing fans and a new wave of viewers sought it out this week as tributes to Pope Francis poured in from around the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Sunday to Monday, viewership spiked 283%, according to Luminate, which measures viewership data across major platforms in the United States, including Peacock, Netflix, Paramount+, Max and Disney+. The movie was watched an average of 1.8 million minutes Sunday. The number surged to 6.9 million minutes watched Monday, Luminate said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A spokesperson for Focus Features did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the streaming data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On social media, many pointed out that the film\u2019s plot mirrored current news headlines<\/a>, including stories about who could succeed Pope Francis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some \u201cConclave\u201d fans did not appear surprised by the film\u2019s resurgence in the zeitgeist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of grief and pain attached to current events, and being able to use Conclave memes as a common\/shared language of community offers some brevity and humor to a clandestine process and historical event that will significantly alter the trajectory of many peoples\u2019 lives,\u201d said the administrator behind Pope Crave, a fan account on X that is dedicated to all things \u201cConclave.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pope Crave, who has 16,000 followers on X<\/a>, asked NBC News by email to use only their username, citing a need for \u201cseparation\u201d between their professional work and \u201cfandom extracurriculars.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI cannot speak for the religious breakdown of \u2018Conclave\u2019 fans, but it doesn\u2019t shock me that Catholic fans of the film would be engaged in the actual papal conclave outcomes,\u201d Pope Crave said. \u201cAnd for the non-Catholic \u2018Conclave\u2019 fans, I would hypothesize there\u2019s something to be said about the abrupt relevance and sudden application of their film knowledge and fandom enthusiasm to a seismically important current global event that holds importance to over 1.25 billion practitioners (and even more non-believers).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Moreland, a professor of law and religion at Villanova University, said the mass appeal of \u201cConclave\u201d captured how, even in a secular modern age, there is still pervasive intrigue around \u201cthe ancient rituals of the Catholic Church.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The conclave process<\/a> involves a gathering of Catholic Church cardinals, who are senior advisers to the pope (based in the Vatican or around the world), under age 80. Bound by an oath of secrecy, the cardinals vote in the Sistine Chapel via paper ballots until a pope is elected by a two-thirds majority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll the charisma and the mystery around Catholicism and the ways in which these men in the College of Cardinals go about assembling and deliberating and voting in the secret process that no one except one of them has seen,\u201d Moreland said, \u201call of that is very fascinating.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cConclave\u201d paints a relatively accurate picture of the way candidates rise and fall throughout the intense balloting process, which can last for however many days it takes to reach the required two-thirds vote, Moreland said. He was disappointed, however, in the film\u2019s outsize focus on \u201ccrude right-left divides.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe significance of the theological and spiritual aspects of Catholicism and this process of electing a pope was kind of reduced into partisan politics,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Tuesday, \u201cConclave\u201d was made available to stream on Amazon Prime. The timing was coincidental, according to Amazon, as the movie was already scheduled to release on the streaming platform this month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As of Tuesday afternoon, many stars of \u201cConclave\u201d had not yet issued any statements about Francis\u2019 death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, in February, when he was in critical condition<\/a>, the cast addressed the timeliness of the film at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe film has ended up extremely timely … and it\u2019s about the social organism electing a leader,\u201d Lithgow, who played Cardinal Tremblay, one of the film\u2019s antagonists who is among the front-runners to become the next pope, told reporters<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou cannot help seeing \u2018Conclave\u2019 and not thinking what happens when different tribes quarrel with each other trying to decide on who is their leader,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s one big reason why people are paying attention to \u2018Conclave,\u2019 beyond the fact that it\u2019s simply a beautiful film that you just don\u2019t see storytelling on film like that much anymore.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The funeral for Francis will be at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) Saturday in St. Peter\u2019s Square in front of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, the Vatican said<\/a>. The conclave will follow the funeral. <\/p>\n\n\n\n