I could tell during the preview screening of “The Exorcist: Believer” that if nothing else, the audience of enthusiasts I was watching it with were cutting it a lot of slack, showing lots more patience with the long dull stretches than I was tolerating.

David Gordon Green’s latest horror franchise vandalism (no one will forget those “Halloweens,” chief) is reaching the faithful. But considering the name recognition of the franchise, maybe more of them are fretting about the “directed by” name below the title. Deadline.com projects a $28-30 million opening, far below Green’s “Halloween” reboot. Good, but not great.

The same strategy behind “Halloween” is there — bring back actors/characters from the original and people will get moist-eyed in nostalgia. But Ellen Burstyn –– 90 years old and long may she reign — and an under-written character didn’t keep it from getting a lot of bad reviews. No, it wasn’t just me who found it wanting. Audience “exit polling” scores are bad, too. It sucks.

The original film spawned a whole lot of sequels, prequels and TV shows, all of it based on a balderdash William Peter Blatty novel based on simple newspaper account from the 1940s of a Maryoand boy acting-out so severely/so strangely that his parents consulted priests, moved him to St. Louis and summoned a team of exorcists who spent many sessions trying to “exorcise” his demons. The victim grew up to have a NASA career and deny he was ever possessed. It’s an interesting rabbit hole to go down, because lots of people — and the pre-show “quiz” at screenings of this latest “Exorcist” — still lean on that “true story” crutch.

Here’s a good rule of thumb. Science teaches us that there’s the natural world, and…no such thing a the supernatural. Demons are the stuff of movies and the wet dreams of the gullible (Hellllloooooo “Nefarious”).

A whole lot of Catholic myth, practice and nonsense was legitimized by that original film and its self-serious supernaturalism. And an entire horror genre was launched fifty years ago.

I covered David Gordon Green, his favorite DP Tom Orr and Danny McBride (don’t remember running across his work) in film school when I worked for the newspaper where the UNC-SA School of Filmmaking was located. He had a beautifully eccentric career before McBride et al got him into gonzo comedies and horror franchises. (McBride is a producer on “Believer”). I wish Green was taking the horror money and making indie movies like “Joe,” “Prince Avalanche” and “All the Real Girls” with his pocket change.

But he’s doing TV (“Righteous Gemstones,” etc.) and spread pretty thin. So…

“Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” is owning that family movie audience, pulling in over $11.6 million on its second weekend, based on Friday’s take. It’ll clear $50 million by the end of next weekend.

“Saw X” is falling off steeper, but not off a cliff — $8 million..

“The Creator” is cratering, a 60%+ falloff from week to week — $6 million.

“The Blind” is still making money, a Fathom Events (one time, one night special event screenings, typically) release that is bringing “Duck Dynasty” fans out of the woodwork. It will add another $3.6 million this weekend, and is up to $11 overall.

“A Haunting in Venice” will add $2-3 and clear the $35 million mark. I dare say it’s in the black, worldwide, and will cover production costs just with its North American take.

And “The Nun II” is still making enough cash (over $2) to sit in seventh place.

“Dumb Money” has one more weekend in the top ten, and is fading fast.

“Equalizer 3” won’t quite make it to $100 million, but it’s over $88 as of Midnight Sunday. So by the time it loses most of its screens, it’ll have come close.

The “Hocus Pocus” anniversary re-release barely made pocket change, but reached the top ten.

As always, I’m monitoring Box Office Pro and Deadline and others to update these figures as the weekend progresses.