On Wednesday, at CinemaCon, audience members found themselves shaken after seeing the new footage from the upcoming Exorcist movie, the first of a new trilogy by David Gordan Green (The Halloween trilogy). The footage has yet to be publicly released. But during the panel, the official title of the movie was revealed as The Exorcist: Believer.
The new installment will be led by Tony and Grammy award winner Leslie Odom Jr. (“Hamilton”) and Ellen Burstyn, who will reprise the iconic role of Chris MacNeil from the 1973 original directed by William Friedkin.
In Believer, “Odom Jr. will play the father of a possessed child. Desperate for help, he tracks down Ms. Burstyn’s character.”
Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum also star as friends who go missing in the woods and returned to their parents after what they think is hours. While in reality, they have been missing for three days. Soon, the girls begin to exhibit strange symptoms and long bouts of staring dead-eyed in the mirror. It quickly becomes clear that sinister forces have taken both girls over.
“It struck something primal in audiences around the world, its depiction of innocence corrupted by something evil,” director David Gordon Green explained to the audience just before showing the footage.
First announced two years ago, Universal has dedicated a massive budget of $400 million for the new trilogy, which will have a theatrical release followed by a release on Peacock.
David Robinson is producing under his Morgan Creek Entertainment banner. Jason Blum is also producing. Blumhouse’s Couper Samuelson is executive producing.
