New The Exorcist Movie Reveals First Footage, Confirms Title

Believe it: Universal Pictures scared up the first look at Blumhouse's 50-years-later sequel to The Exorcist at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. During the studio's two-hour panel on Wednesday, director David Gordon Green and producer Jason Blum screened the first footage from the new film, officially titled The Exorcist: Believer. Green's follow-up to William Friedkin's adaptation of William Peter Blatty's horrifying novel will "extend and update" The Exorcist franchise "in many ways, like [Green] did in Halloween," Blum said, referring to Blumhouse's Halloween reboot trilogy that starred Jamie Lee Curtis and was set 40 years after John Carpenter's 1978 film. 

In the footage screened exclusively for CinemaCon attendees, a father's (Leslie Odom Jr.) daughter (Lidya Jewett) is in the hospital after going missing for three days. She suddenly starts convulsing. At a Catholic church, other young girls fall victim to demonic possession. Spine-tingling screams: "The body and the blood! The body and the blood!" The footage ends with the reveal of someone we've met before: Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn, reprising her role from the original film), whose daughter Regan (Linda Blair) once was possessed by the ancient demon Pazuzu.

The first in a planned Exorcist sequel trilogy, Believer also stars Jennifer Nettles (The Righteous Gemstones), Ann Dowd (The Handmaid's Tale), Raphael Sbarge (Once Upon a Time), Okwui Okpokwasili (I Am Legend), and newcomer Olivia Marcum.

In 2021, Morgan Creek Entertainment entered into a $400 million deal with Universal and the streaming service Peacock to produce Blumhouse's Exorcist trilogy, with the first installment set to open in theaters on October 13th. Green directed from a screen story he co-wrote with his Halloween collaborator Danny McBride and Scott Teems (Halloween Kills, Firestarter). Morgan Creek president David Robinson described the theatrical franchise revival as "a compelling continuation" of Friedkin's Exorcist, setting the following two films to stream on Peacock.

"It's not inaccurate [that The Exorcist 2023 will be a sequel to the original film]. I like all the Exorcist movies," Green previously told Total Film. "And not only do I like them, I think they can all fall into the acceptable mythology for what I'm doing. It's not like I'm saying, 'Pretend that The Exorcist II never happened.' That's fine to exist. They're all fine to exist, and I enjoy all of them."

The Exorcist: Believer opens in theaters October 13th from Blumhouse, Morgan Creek, and Universal Pictures.