When it comes to the horror genre, it currently seems that Jason Blum’s Blumhouse is attempting to collect as many classic franchises on its books as possible, as having already been part of the Halloween reboot, it was confirmed last year that The Exorcist reboot was next on the hit list with a trilogy of movies that will continue the current reboot fad of linking to the original movie and mostly disregarding the sequels that are already out there. David Gordon Green, who has been behind the camera on the new Halloween trilogy which will come to an end with Halloween Kills next year, will be moving onto the Exorcist movies next, and it looks like he now has decided that he wants to direct all three movies.
Speaking to Collider about a number of different subjects, Green was asked about his next franchise job and confirmed that he will be co-writing and directing all three of the new Exorcist films, saying “That’s the idea right now, yeah.” He went on to reveal that “the first one of our trilogy is written and the second two are being outlined. So we’ve got a ways to go on that, but we know where we’re going. It’s a new journey [with] some familiar characters and some new ones as well.”
While it seems on the surface like going straight from Halloween into The Exorcist would just be more of the same type of work, David Gordon Green made it clear that the two movie franchises are completely different from each other. “To me, it’s as different as making Stronger and Pineapple Express. They’re just so unbelievably different. One is very primal and the other is very academic. So it’s just trying to switch gears there. I’m sure I’ll know more a year from now when I’ve gotten a handle on what Exorcist is. The script’s written. And it was a very, entirely different writing process.”
It may seem like a strange comparison for Green to make, as the difference between the Boston Marathon bombing drama Stronger and the Seth Rogen action comedy Pineapple Express seems hugely obvious, whereas Halloween and The Exorcist do sit in the same genre. However, it could easily be argued that writing about a silent murderer killing anything that moves should be less of a challenge in comparison to handling the many different story angles required to tell a story of possession and the psychological horror that brings with it.
Green teased the work he has been doing on the new Exorcist movies in a Total Film interview, including having written the first movie script during Covid lockdown. “The Exorcist has been written. That was one of my pandemic projects. It’s not inaccurate [that it will be a sequel to the original film]. I like all the Exorcist movies. 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 2 never happened.’ That’s fine to exist. They’re all fine to exist, and I enjoy all of them. That one is a lot of research, rather than just impulsive screenwriting. That’s one that you talk to a lot of people. You read a lot of books, and do a sh-tload of interviews. There was such a dramatic authenticity to what that original film is. It’s a lot more than I anticipated getting into it. And I guess I was naive to think that. But it was very exhilarating to be involved in a lot of those conversations that you find yourself in.”
The first movie in The Exorcist trilogy will premiere on October 13th, 2023 in theaters and be available for streaming soon after on Peacock, after Universal acquired the whole trilogy for a hefty $400 million price tag. This news comes to us from Collider.
Source: movieweb.com