The ongoing CinemaCon saw many exciting presentations and teases this year with titles like Warner Bros. Discovery’s The Flash, Barbie, Blue Beetle, The Meg 2: The Trench, Saw X, and more. Among the panels on the third day ,the festival pleased horror fans as Universal showed the first trailer of the upcoming The Exorcist, from director David Gordon Green. Collider’s own Steven Weintraub is in Las Vegas and reports that the title for the first feature of the trilogy is titled The Exorcist: Believer.
The feature was announced last year with the Halloween fame director set to helm and Ellen Burstyn to reprise her role from William Friedkin's original 1973 classic. Green will continue the terrifying story from the original feature with celebrated artist Leslie Odom Jr.playing the father of two possessed girls, desperate for help. In the sequel, he’ll track down Burstyn's character, whose young daughter (Linda Blair) was possessed by an evil entity known as Pazuzu.
The Legacy of The Exorcist
The original Exorcist movie was based on William Peter Blatty novel by the same name and follows a worried mother who seeks medical help for her daughter who starts acting odd – levitating, speaking in tongues – to no avail. However, when a local priest suggests that the girl might be seized by the devil, he makes a request to perform an exorcism, and the church sends in an expert to help. The movie scared up enough people to become a cultural sensation, grossing more than $440 million at the worldwide box office. It grabbed 10 Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. The movie cast Jason Miller, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran, and Father William O'Malley and went on to spin a trilogy and a TV series.
Along with Odom Jr, The Exorcist: Believer casts Burstyn as Chris MacNeil, Ann Dowd, Lidya Jewett, Olivia Marcum, Raphael Sbarge, Jennifer Nettles, and Okwui Okpokwasili. Green directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Peter Sattler from a story he co-wrote with Scott Teems, and Danny McBride. Blumhouse’s Jason Blum will produce alongside James Robinson and David Robinson of Morgan Creek, which holds the rights to the Exorcist franchise. Universal and Peacock acquired the trilogy in a mega-deal worth more than $400 million, last year.
The Exorcist: Believer is set to be released by Universal Pictures on October 13.