Halloween trilogy director David Gordon Green's The Exorcist: Believer hit theaters this past Friday, and while it did have a fairly decent opening weekend all things considered, it still came in under initial $35 million domestic projections. The movie was also lambasted by critics, and currently sits at an abysmal 22% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Believer had a reported $30 million production budget, so while its $44.2 million debut is far from a disaster, analysts are expecting a significant second-week drop. It's also important to note that Universal Pictures paid a whopping $400 million for the rights to the franchise - although this also includes streaming rights for Peacock, and theme park extensions like this month’s Exorcist: Believer maze at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.
Believer was just the first part of a planned trilogy, with The Exorcist: Deceiver - which is said to have a completed script - scheduled for 2025, and an untitled conclusion also in the works. THR is reporting that these sequels are still on track, but some changes will likely be made.
The trade doesn't specify exactly what creative alterations will be implemented, but there will be a degree of "creative re-think," and it sounds like Green may not take the helm of Deceiver or its follow-up.
“My intention is just to start making things, and as those plans come together, if I find myself in that [The Exorcist: Deceiver] director’s chair, I’d be thrilled,” Green recently told THR. “But right now, I’m navigating it from a story perspective and looking at my realities of life as I pivot.”
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.