Critics may have read The Exorcist: Believer its last rites (the movie sits at an abysmal 22% on Rotten Tomatoes), but David Gordon Green's legacy sequel to William Friedkin's horror classic has still managed to take the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office (via FearHQ.com).
Since opening worldwide on Friday, Believer has scared-up $27.2 million domestically and $17.9 million for a global debut of $45.1 million.
The film has a reported budget of just $30 million (excluding marketing costs), so this would seem like a pretty good result for Blumhouse and Universal Pictures... if they hadn't paid $400 million for the rights!
Of course, the plan is to make at least two more instalments, with The Exorcist: Deceiver set for release in 2025, but will the second movie even see the light of day? Yes, this is a solid start, but many box office analysts believe those negative reviews and what is certain to be mixed (at the very least) word-of-mouth are going to cause the movie to plummet as it heads into its second week in theaters.
We also have quotes from Green, who outlined an alternate ending during an interview with /Film. Spoilers follow.
When asked if Katherine, the possessed girl who is killed by the demon Lamashtu during the climactic exorcism, was ever going to survive, DGG had the following response.
"Yeah, we shot it. We wrote it, we shot it. There are little moments even in some of the trailers that you'll see of a baptism that were from a version of the movie that we did. I'm a really, I don't know, spontaneous and playful, organic [director], taking the detours and inspirations that I found along the way, and something didn't feel honest about just a clean win. I won't go into the very ending of the movie, but there's a moment where I wanted real warmth, but I wanted to make sure that there was always a mark for the other one [the demon] on the scoreboard."
Have you been to see The Exorcist: Believer yet, or did the reviews put you off? Drop us a comment down below.
"Exactly 50 years ago this fall, the most terrifying horror film in history landed on screens, shocking audiences around the world. Now, on Friday, October 13, a new chapter begins. From Blumhouse and director David Gordon Green, who shattered the status quo with their resurrection of the Halloween franchise, comes The Exorcist: Believer.
Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Tony winner and Oscar nominee Leslie Odom, Jr.; One Night in Miami, Hamilton) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett, Good Girls) on his own. But when Angela and her friend Katherine (newcomer Olivia Marcum), disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil."
The Exorcist: Believer also stars Ann Dowd as Victor and Angela’s neighbor, and Jennifer Nettles and Norbert Leo Butz as the parents of Katherine, Angela’s friend.
The movie is set to hit theaters on October 6, with sequel, The Exorcist: Deceiver, arriving on April 18, 2025.