A new Exorcist movie is coming - and it has the perfect release date

The creator of a slew of great Netflix horror TV shows Mike Flanagan is to take on The Exorcist universe next - and we finally know the release date.

If you’ve become a Mike Flanagan fan over recent years, it’s probably because of Netflix shows like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. He’s now turning his attention to movies once more, with a Blumhouse-produced The Exorcist reboot flick due in 2026 .

This is a big switcheroo for The Exorcist franchise. Blumhouse originally had plans for an Exorcist trilogy headed up by David Gordon Green.

He had already done the same for another classic horror franchise, with the Halloween, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends movies.

But now we are getting a 'radical new take' on the Exorcist and it will be released March 13, 2026. A quick look at the ol' calendar and that date is... Friday the 13th.

Franchise fear

But when the first in his trilogy, 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer, was roundly pilloried by the critics and didn’t set cinemas alight, there were second thoughts.

According to Rotten Tomatoes stats, The Exorcist: Believer might just be the worst reviewed Blumhouse film since 2022’s Firestarter.

One problem for the future of The Exorcist as a movie series is The Exorcist: Believer is probably also still one of the best films in the franchise to date.

So was Believer as much of a dud as this move suggests? The film made $136 million at the box office, placing it just inside the top 10 of Blumhouse Productions movies, according to Box Office Mojo.

However, in one key way, this wasn’t a classic Blumhouse flick. Sure, its $30 million production budget isn’t mega-bucks. But production partner Universal also spent a reported $400 million acquiring the license in 2021. Cheap and fast is the Blumhouse way. This isn't looking so cheap anymore.

Before making a series of much-loved horror TV shows for Netflix, Mike Flanagan directed a stack of solid horror movies including Hush, Gerald’s Game, Ouija: Origin of Evil and the somewhat more contentious Doctor Sleep.

In 2022 we heard The Fall of the House of Usher would be Flanagan’s last series with Netflix.

Aside from this The Exorcist reboot, he has recently directed a Stephen King movie adaptation, due in September. It’s The Life of Chuck starring Tom Hiddleston. But this is a drama, not a King-staple horror.

Flanagan also announced he had signed a TV-making deal with Prime Video in 2022, along with his production partner Trevor Macy.

However, this does not affect Flanagan’s work outside of TV, according to Deadline, freeing him up to direct the next The Exorcist movie.

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