Following the critical and financial disappointment of The Exorcist: Believer, producer Jason Blum says another film is still happening, but suggests a rethink is afoot.
If Universal and Blumhouse expected to set up some kind of ectoplasmic blockbuster franchise with The Exorcist: Believer, they were probably a bit disappointed when the scathing reviews began to roll in last October. They were probably even more disappointed with the box office returns of roughly $137m – a figure said to be considerably below initial expectations.
In the aftermath, the 2025 release window for its sequel, The Exorcist: Deceiver, was quietly closed, and plans for a trilogy were called into question as a result. Universal paid a startling $400m for the Exorcist rights, though, so the studio’s hardly going to let the franchise fade from view entirely.
Sure enough, Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum has signalled that another Exorcist film is “definitely” in the works, but suggests that what will emerge won’t be The Exorcist: Deceiver, but something altogether different.
“We are definitely going to make another Exorcist movie,” Blum told The Direct while standing on the red carpet for his company’s latest horror, Imaginary, “but I wanted more time to figure out what it would be. I have no idea what it’s going to be yet.”
All of which implies that whatever state The Exorcist: Deceiver was in – a finished script, or perhaps just an outline – has been dropped. The Exorcist: Believer director David Gordon Green left the sequel project in January, so Blum and Universal are likely on the search for a filmmaker who has a fresh direction for its possession-based film series.
As we wrote last October, The Exorcist: Believer failed to make our heads spin. The better news was that Ellen Burstyn did pretty well out of it – and her pay cheque went to a thoroughly honourable cause.
More news on Universal/Blumhouse’s Pazuzu plans as we get them.
