Celebrated filmmaker Mike Flanagan says those keen to see his take on “The Exorcist” franchise are going to have to wait.
Last year, the news came that the “Midnight Mass” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” creator would be doing a whole new take on the franchise, with Universal scheduling the film for a March 13th 2026, release.
Popping up on Tumblr this week, the filmmaker was responding to fan questions when the project came up and he was asked if it was still moving forward.
Flanagan says his current priority is his “Carrie” series for Amazon MGM Studios, and with that Stephen King adaptation still in the early stages it means any other project is a while off: “Production hasn’t started, we need to finish Carrie first. No way it’s coming out next March. Nothing to worry about though.”
Universal spent $400 million in 2021 to land a new “Exorcist” trilogy from 2018’s “Halloween” director David Gordon Green. The first film however crashed and burned, “The Exorcist: Believer” debuting in 2023 to bad reviews and just $137 million at the box office.
Rather than throw good money after bad, the team opted to give Flanagan the creative keys to the kingdom, allowing him to deliver a new take which he says is something that has “never been done within the franchise – something that honors what came before it but isn’t built on nostalgia.” His aim is to make the scariest movie he’s ever made.
