EXCLUSIVE:After Universal decided to go early withThe Exorcist: Believer,the Blumhouse/Morgan Creek sequel reboot is eyeing a $30M+ opening on tracking, Deadline has learned from sources.
Currently we hear the R-rated movie is great with women under 25 in terms of first choice and unaided awareness (that potent polling quotient thats able to cite a movie title as their must-see, without being prodded in a survey), and that its looking similar to Paramount/Spyglass 2022Screamwhich debuted to $30M.
Even ifExorcist: Believeropens in the high $20Ms, Uni/Blumhouse/Morgan Creek can still easily declare that its a record opening for the franchise.
From L to R: Lidya Jewett, Olivia MarcumUniversal
While the legendary pics heyday was in 1973 with the original being ultimately grossing a lifetime of $233M stateside, box office opening weekends werent recorded nationally at that point in time by the industry.
1990sExorcist IIIopened to $9.3M, by far the biggest debut for anExorcistmovie, and legged out to $26M; while the 2000 re-release of the original pic was a cash cow at the fall box office bowing to $8.1M and grossing $39.4M.
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Universal got a hold of the franchise global rights to theExorcistfor $400M in partnership with Blumhouse, Morgan Creek and streaming service Peacock.
At the time it was announced that Ellen Burstyn who played Chris MacNeil, the mother of the demon-possessed child in the first movie, would reprise that role which which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nominee.
Burstyn did not participate in any of the previous and mostly panned Exorcistsequels or prequels, which includedExorcist II: The Heretic(1977),The Exorcist III(1990),Exorcist: The Beginning(2004), andDominion: Prequel to the Exorcist(2005).
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It was also announced that director David Gordon Green, who together with story by guy Danny McBride, were behind the recently rebooted Jamie Lee Curtis returnHalloweentrilogy (which grossed just under a half billion worldwide at $497.6M) would be taking on similar behind-the-camera roles onThe Exorcist: Believer.
Universal movedExorcist: Believerfrom Oct. 13 to Oct. 6 after AMC ploppedTaylor Swift: Eras Tourconcert film on the horror pics original release date.
As we told you yesterday, presales forEras Tourare at $65M for the top three circuits, Canadas Cineplex and Mexicos Cinepolis, which many believe will result in a $100M+ opening for the concert movie.
The Exorcist: Believers protagonist is Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.), who, since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, has raised their daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own.
But when Angela and her friend Katherine (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.
Pic also stars Ann Dowd (The Handmaids Tale), Jennifer Nettles (Harriet) and Norbert Leo Butz (Fosse/Verdon).
