Universal's New 'Exorcist' Franchise Launches In 2023
Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions announced today that they'll release the first of three movies based on the Exorcist franchise IP on October 13, 2023. Universal already had an untitled Blumhouse movie scheduled on the date which follows in the wake of the first October weekend of 2023 where both Disney Marvel and Warner Bros. have untitled event movies programmed.
It was announced last week that Universal Pictures and NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock, in partnership with Blumhouse and Morgan Creek closed a reported $400 million-plus deal to purchase worldwide rights for a new Exorcist franchise that will see Ellen Burstyn reprise her role as the mother of a demon-possessed child.
Director David Gordon Green who blew the dust off and polished up the Halloween series for Universal and Blumhouse and Miramax with the 2018 sequel, taking it to a franchise installment record of $255.6M; even bringing back franchise star Jamie Lee Curtis, will helm the new Exorcist series.
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The new Exorcist movies will see Hamilton's Leslie Odom Jr. star as the father of a possessed child who seeks out the aid of Burstyn's character Chris MacNeil, mother of the possessed Regan MacNeil (played in the original 1973 film by Linda Blair).
Burstyn didn't star in any of the previous Exorcist sequels or prequels, which included Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Exorcist III (1990), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005).
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