“The Exorcist – Devotion” is a must-see at the cinema. David Gordon Green’s horror film is the first part of a trilogy. Discover the release date and first information on “The Exorcist: Deveiver”
The Exorcist – Devotion is currently in theaters. As soon as the project was announced, director David Gordon Green and producer Jason Blum announced that it would be a trilogy like what they already did for Halloween.
The duo applies the same formula: bring back the actress from the original film and continue the plot of the first opus without taking into account the sequels, The Exorcist 2 – the heretic by John Boorman released in 1978 and The Exorcist III by William Peter Blatty (1990).
In the feature film, Victor (Leslie Odom Jr) raises his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) alone. After getting lost for 72 hours in the forest with her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill), the young girl begins to behave strangely.
Victor must face formidable evil forces. Desperate and terrified, he calls on the only person still alive who has ever witnessed such phenomena: Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn).
On the occasion of the theatrical release of The Exorcist – Devotion, we spoke with David Gordon Green and Jason Blum. The producer told us that, unlike the Halloween saga where it was literally necessary to obscure films since the character played by Jamie Lee Curtis died in the 2002 film Resurrection, the sequels to The Exorcist did not call into question their trilogy, in particular because Ellen Burstyn, until now, had never agreed to come back.
“We don’t need to erase anything, we just don’t recognize these movies in our timeline“, he says.
We have some kind of general plan
Devotion is therefore the first part of a larger work. And if the screenplay for the second opus has already been written, the latter has not yet been filmed. Jason Blum explains:
“The plan is to make three The Exorcist films. We have a roadmap. It’s evolving and will probably change depending on the audience’s reaction to this film, but we have sort of a general plan.”
Entitled The Exorcist: Deceiver, the sequel to Devotion is currently scheduled in our cinemas for April 16, 2025. But the roadmap for Jason Blum could well be upset…
Universal Ellen Burstyn and Leslie Odom Jr.
The sequel in danger?
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Universal purchased the rights to the franchise for $400 million, a figure that includes streaming rights to the film on Peacock and theme park expansions, among other things.
So The Exorcist: Devotion needs to make enough money at the box office for the horror franchise to continue.
But David Gordon Green’s feature film was poorly received by critics and only grossed $26.5 million at the North American box office for its first weekend of release.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, each film in the trilogy must bring in at least $133 million to hope to be profitable. These disappointing results could therefore call into question the sequels.
Universal
Devotion
If Universal confirms that there will be two other The Exorcist films, some American media sources say that changes could be made. Thus the presence of David Gordon Green the production of the second and third films would no longer be assured.
Involved in the project from the start, the filmmaker recently told Hollywood Reporter : “I do things as I go. If I find myself in the director’s chair for the sequel, I would be delighted, but for the moment, I am managing the sequel from a narrative point of view while remaining attentive to other projects.”
The Exorcist: Deceiver should therefore be released in theaters on April 16, 2025 with or without Gordon Green directing. However, no date has been announced for the third and final part.
It is not yet known whether the sequel will focus on the character of Victor and his daughter Angela or if the film will focus on the reunion between Chris and Regan (Linda Blair).