"The Exorcist: Believer" Release Date Moved Up One Week

Universal/Blumhouse/Morgan Creek’s "The Exorcist: The Believer", the sequel to William Friedkin’s landmark horror movie “The Exorcist”, is moving its release date up by one week. 

The sequel is now opening on October 6 instead of October 13. The news comes as AMC has plopped the concert film Taylor Swift: Eras Tour on the mid-October schedule. 

Good move as Swift is apt to steal Exorcist‘s female audience. Uni/Blumhouse/Miramax’s Halloween reboot drew 47% women in its opening weekend. But even more so, the first weekend of October is desperately in need of a blockbuster, with Sony/Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter taking a hike to Labor Day weekend 2024 on account of the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

The Exorcist is a big tentpole at the fall box office at a time when studios are looking to keep summer’s momentum going, though without actors to promote films due to the strike.

2018’s "Halloween" holds the fourth-best opening of October at $76.2 million. The rebooted franchise’s sequels, which saw Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie Strode, went theatrical day-and-date on Peacock due to the coronavirus, respectively opening to $49.4M for "Halloween Kills" and $40M for "Halloween Ends".

Universal and Peacock closed a $400M deal for global rights to the Exorcist franchise. The new movie sees Ellen Burstyn reprising her role from the 1970s movies as Chris MacNeil, the mother of a demon-possessed child. 

David Gordon Green, who recently revived the “Halloween” franchise, will direct the first of three planned movies.

The franchise is described as a continuation of the original 1973 movie, rather than a remake, which was directed by William Friedkin and adapted by William Peter Blatty based on his novel.

It was based on William Peter Blatty’s novel and tells the story of Regan (Linda Blair), a young girl who undergoes strange changes when possessed by a demonic entity, and her mother (Burstyn), an actress seeking the help of priests to help perform an exorcism on her daughter.

The movie sparked immediate controversy upon release, with some audience members reporting alleged heart attacks, miscarriages, and other visceral reactions to the movie’s graphic gore and intense religious scenes.

"The Exorcist" became a sensation following its release and has since grossed over $441 million, making it the highest domestic-grossing horror movie over a 48-year-long run. A massive commercial hit, “The Exorcist” went on to earn a best picture nomination at the Oscars and took home two trophies for best-adapted screenplay and best sound.

The original movie spawned four sequels over the years, though “Believer” forgoes that established chronology, much like Green’s rebooted “Halloween” trilogy. The new “Halloween” films saw Jamie Lee Curtis return as an older Laurie Strode, still haunted by the killer Michael Myers. The revival spawned two sequels, “Halloween Kills” and “Halloween Ends.”

“The Exorcist: Believer” features two demonic girls who become possessed after being saved from a supposed kidnapping. Burstyn’s MacNeil turns up at the doorsteps of their homes with a helping hand, having once had a possessed daughter of her own.

However, it’s uncertain whether the woman can truly save the two girls — covered in bloody Satanic markings and devouring pages of the Bible in the new footage.

Here’s the official logline: “Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) 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.”

“Believer” will also star Ann Dowd, Okwui Okpokwasili, Jennifer Nettles, and Raphael Sbarge.

Executive producers on “The Exorcist: Believer” are Danny McBride, Green, Stephanie Allain, Ryan Turek, and Atilla Yücer. The Universal Pictures movie is produced by Blumhouse and Morgan Creek Entertainment, in association with Rough House Pictures.

“The Exorcist: Believer” is set to hit theaters on October 13, with "The Exorcist: Deceiver” hit theaters on April 18, 2025.