The Exorcist is Back With Three New Films

The chilling franchise will return with a $400 million investment for its new trilogy.

THE EXORCIST, from left, Linda Blair, Max Von Sydow, Jason Miller, 1973, ©Warner Bros | Credit: Everett Collection.

It’s been almost 50 years since the original Exorcist film horrified the world. The franchise returns to expand the universe with the production of a trilogy based on the original film. 

The original film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 1974 and won Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound. Linda Blair was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The film was actually titled the “scariest movie ever made” at the time and is still praised as a classic.

A few actors from the original have signed on to participate including Ellen Burstyn who played Chris Macneil, mother of the possessed girl. Unfortunately, there are no plans for the actress Linda Blair, who played the mentioned girl, to make a return. Blair said

“To all my fans asking about my involvement in the new Exorcist reboot, as of now, there has not been any discussion about me participating or reprising my role”

The new movie will also star the Tony-winning Leslie Odom Jr. in an unknown role, alongside Burstyn.

Production

Credit: ScreenGeek

Not much is known in regards to the plot and story of the films. Producer Jason Blum revealed to Den of Geek that the reboot will be written similarly to the 2018 Halloween reboot which directly sequels the original and ignores the previous sequels. Consequently, the Exorcist reboot will continue directly off the original and disregard the famously bad sequels.

Actor-writer-producer Danny McBride and Scott Teams co-wrote the story for the new Exorcist movie. McBride previously co-wrote the successful reboot of Halloween, which is also set to complete a trilogy. The finished script for the new movie is created by Green and Peter Sattler and is already considered to be the first out of three movies. 

The original film was considered the highest-grossing horror movie of all time when adjusted for inflation. Its impact and the movies it influenced are legions, including recent box office hits like The Conjuring franchise.

The Exorcist will return on October 13, 2023.

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