By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The second of the planned trilogy has also come off the release schedule.
Variety reports that David Gordon Green, who directed last year’s THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER and was intended to follow up with two more possession pics for Universal and Blumhouse, is no longer at the helm of the next film, THE EXORCIST: DECEIVER. That movie has also been pulled from its April 18, 2025 place on the studio’s calendar, replaced by the Michael Jackson biopic MICHAEL, directed by Antoine Fuqua.
There had been rumblings about Green (pictured with BELIEVER and original EXORCIST star Ellen Burstyn) exiting the new EXORCIST franchise ever since he gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter last October in which he said, “My intention is just to start making things, and as those plans come together, if I find myself in that [DECEIVER] director’s chair, I’d be thrilled. But right now, I’m navigating it from a story perspective and looking at my realities of life as I pivot.” He’s currently working on the comedy NUTCRACKERS, starring Ben Stiller, for Rough House Pictures and Red Hour Films.
THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER, released last October 6, grossed $65.5 million domestically and $136.2 million worldwide, considered a disappointment considering that Universal shelled out $400 million for the rights to the franchise in July 2021. Green previously relaunched HALLOWEEN with Universal and Blumhouse in 2018, to the tune of $159.3 million domestically and $260 million worldwide; the follow-ups, 2021’s HALLOWEEN KILLS and 2022’s HALLOWEEN ENDS, were less successful but still profitable. There’s been no mention of a possible replacement at the DECEIVER helm at this point; we’ll keep you posted!
