Blumhouse’s Exorcist trilogy creates a new story that branches off from the original film, just like their Halloween reboot. The director already has a lot of work lies ahead on the project.

Blumhouse seems to be on a mission to inject themselves into as many of the biggest horror franchises as possible, as after their creations like The Purge and Paranormal Activity. With a Halloween reboot under their belt, Jason Blum‘s company aims to inject some new blood into the Exorcist franchise. The project will take the same approach as the 2018 Michael Myers revival, continuing the story of the original Exorcist film and effectively erasing the sequels that followed, or if you want to follow the popular trend, it could be seen as creating an alternate reality that takes the story in a new direction.

The Exorcist reboot is an heirloom sequel set decades after the 1973 classic, in which Blum joins forces with director David Gordon Green. In a new interview with CinePOP, Blum went into more detail about the project and had some strong words for those who expect Blumhouse to spoil the story of demonic possession.

“I’m hoping to do with The Exorcist what we did with Halloween,” Blum said. “With Halloween, the first movie was great; the second movie was okay, the rest of the movies weren’t very good. Then we came along and reimagined it, and people liked it, so I hope we can do the same with The Exorcist. Everyone thinks we’re going to fall on our faces, but I think it’s the same director, the same writer, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride. And I think we’re going to reinvent The Exorcist to make it feel fresh, new, different, but, you know, connected to the first movie, but at the same time, we’re going to make it very, very scary.”

But Jason Blum says there are plans not just for this film, but for a new trilogy, again very similar to the way the new Halloween films have been handled. So far, Hamilton is set to star Leslie Odom Jr. as the father of a demon-possessed child who, in desperation, turns to Chris MacNeil, played again by Ellen Burstyn, reprising her original role. Although Linda Blair played Burstyn’s daughter Regan in the original film, she has confirmed that she is not currently involved in the new film cycle.

“This film is a lot of research, not just impulsive screenwriting,” Green told Total Film about The Exorcist script. “It’s something you talk to a lot of people about. You read a lot of books and do a lot of interviews. There was so much dramatic authenticity to the original film. It’s so much more than I expected when I went into it. And I think I was naive to think that. But it was very uplifting to be part of a lot of the conversations.”

Universal and Peacock have picked up the new Exorcist trilogy in a lucrative deal worth more than $400 million. At the same time, rights holder Morgan Creek Entertainment is part of the production team and Blumhouse. The first film in the trilogy is currently set to hit theatres on October 13, 2023, and if they line up sequels like the Halloween films, we can expect two more in the next few years.

Source: CinePop