Revival of ‘Exorcist’ Franchise

Hollywoodreportercom: Leslie Odom Jr. is set to star in the coming reboot of The Exorcist from Blumhouse and Morgan Creek Productions, in partnership with Universal and Peacock.

Ellen Burstyn will also reprise her role as Chris MacNeil, with David Gordon Green earlier tapped to direct the first of three planned movies. Universal and Peacock acquired the worldwide rights to create new IP based on The Exorcist franchise in partnership with Blumhouse and Morgan Creek.

The first film in the planned trilogy will be released theatrically on Oct. 13, 2023. And Universal wil play The Exorcist revival in theaters and on Peacock to allow the NBCUniversal streamer to keep signing up subscribers.

William Friedkin directed the original The Exorcist, which became a sensation in 1973, has since grossed over $441 million in total, making it the highest domestic grossing horror film over a 48-year-long run. The film told the tale of a 12-year-old girl possessed by a mysterious entity and the lengths her mother and two Catholic priests go to in an attempt to save her. It was adapted from William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel and earned the author an Oscar for adapted screenplay. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture and best director, as well as acting nominations for Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller and Linda Blair.

“There’s no better time to be joining forces with the team at Peacock, reuniting with the great team at Universal and finally getting to work with my friends at Blumhouse, than on this classic franchise,” David Robinson, Morgan Creek president, said in a statement. Universal and Blumhouse earlier collaborated on movies like Get Out, Split and The Invisible Man.

For Peacock, landing an exclusive window for The Exorcist franchise revival could help the streaming service, with its strategy of a free base tier and focus on advertising, catch up to streaming leaders like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime as all players in the sector look to big event programming to drive subscriber growth.

The Exorcist sequel is being penned by Peter Sattler and director Green. Jason Blum, David Robinson, James Robinson, Green, Danny McBride and Couper Samuelson will executive produce.

Ryan Turek is overseeing the project for Blumhouse. Odom, Jr. is represented by CAA and Untitled Entertainment. Burstyn is represented by UTA and MGMT Entertainment. Green is repped by CAA, Cinetic Media and Pryor Chasman.