The reviews for The Exorcist: Believer haven’t been kind, with far less goodwill being showered upon David Gordon Green’s series revival than his 2018 Halloween sequel. Box office, however, has been decent—the Hollywood Reporter notes it made nearly $3 million in Thursday previews; all told, Variety notes, it made nearly $12 million in its opening days—and the fact that Universal’s said to have forked out over $400 million for the franchise rights means we’ll likely get two more Exorcist films as planned.
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But with the critical tide against Believer—and the fact that Green’s previous trilogy rebooting a much-loved genre title yielded the underwhelming Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends—you’d understand if horror fans were a bit nervous about his continued involvement with The Exorcist.
In a recent interview with THR, Green spoke about his plans for the trilogy. Or rather, he spoke about his lack of plans, calling himself “the least rigid filmmaker in town.” It all begins with having confidence, he explained, “and then it’s about intuition, improvisation, opportunity, and these things that come to light. So I have a roadmap of what I’d like to do with this trilogy and some themes I’d like to tackle and some philosophies I’d like to explore.”
Pointing out that he’d just finished Believer at the time of the interview, he said he’d be processing the experience once the movie was out (presumably something that involves factoring in how it’s received). After that, he’ll “take a deep breath and see how much of my original instincts and ideas apply to where we could go with this. And then I’ll take it from there. But I am far from rigid. I like to keep things loose. I’m always evolving with my creative collaborators, particularly my actors and actresses in front of the camera and bringing their ideas and authenticity to the stage I’m trying to create.”
Of note: he wouldn’t confirm whether or not he’s still locked into direct the next two films, starting with already-announced Believer sequel The Exorcist: Deceiver, due out April 18, 2025. “My intention is just to start making things, and as those plans come together, if I find myself in that [The Exorcist: Deceiver] director’s chair, I’d be thrilled,” Green said. “But right now, I’m navigating it from a story perspective and looking at my realities of life as I pivot.”
Read the full interview with Green at THR. The Exorcist: Believer is in theaters now.
Update, Oct. 7, 10:50 a.m.: This post was updated to include Variety’s Friday box office figures.
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