Jason Blum has been chatting about why The Exorcist: Believer had to make way for Taylor Swift. Turns out, the legendary horror produce is rather terrified of Tay Tay.
The Exorcist: Believer, the new chapter in The Exorcist franchise, was set to arrive in cinemas on the thematically apt Friday 13 October. It seemed like a release date that was set in stone – the spookiest day of the spookiest month is simply the best possible date you could open a film about two kids terrorised by a demon.
Yet David Gordon Green’s film had to make way for another force of nature: Taylor Swift.
Swift announced her concert film, The Eras Tour, just a few weeks ago, but the pre-sales have already set new records. One industry insider described them as “Marvel-like,” an impressive feat for a concert film. The film was confirmed to global release earlier this week, so UK fans can head to their local cinemas to catch a glimpse of the Eras Tour this October.
So Blumhouse, the prolific horror house behind The Exorcist: Believer had to cave and is now arriving in cinemas 6 October instead.
“The one thing that scares me to death is Taylor Swift!” producer Jason Blum told Entertainment Weekly. It was probably meant as a humorous comment, but the power of the Swifties should absolutely terrify you.
The Exorcist: Believer. Credit: Universal Pictures
After Swift announced her film, Blum initially tweeted out just one word: Exorswift. It was clearly a hammy attempt to create Barbenheimer-level hype for an unlikely double bill, but ultimately, Blum had to give in and admit defeat.
“Look what you made me do,” Blum tweeted later that same day. “The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23 #TaylorWins.”
“Obviously, we moved off that [date] and we bowed our head to Taylor Swift,” Blum told EW. “It was too risky to see if ‘Exorswift’ was going to take or not. People will still have the Exorswift opportunity, so maybe we got to have our cake and eat it too.”
The Exorcist: Believer hopes to replicate the success of Halloween (2018), which was also directed by David Gordon Green. Like in Halloween, Green is bringing back a legacy character; Ellen Burstyn is reprising her legendary role as Chris MacNeil from the original The Exorcist.
“I really give David Gordon Green credit for that,” Blum said of the choice to bring the character back. “He was able to get Jamie Lee Curtis comfortable [on 2018’s Halloween], and David got Ellen to feel comfortable to join us in this iteration of her iconic movie.”
The Exorcist: Believer is in cinemas 6 October. Taylor Swift’s The Era Tour is in cinemas 13 October.
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