Universal/Blumhouse/Morgan Creek’s The Exorcist: The Believer is now opening on Oct. 6 instead of Oct. 13.
The news comes as AMC has plopped the concert film Taylor Swift:Eras Tour on the mid-October schedule. Deadline hears that within hours of the pic going on sale, it’s made $10M+ in presales and counting.
Good movie, Uni, as Swift is apt to steal Exorcist‘s female audience. Uni/Blumhouse/Miramax’s Halloween reboot drew 47% women in its opening weekend. But even more so, the first weekend of October is desperately in need of a blockbuster with Sony/Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter taking a hike to Labor Day weekend 2024 on account of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
The Exorcist is a big tentpole at the fall box office at a time when studios are looking to keep summer’s momentum going, but with the lack of actors to promote films due to the strike.
2018’s Halloween holds the fourth best opening of October at $76.2M. The rebooted franchise’s sequels which saw Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie Strode went theatrical day-and-date on Peacock due to Covid, respectively opening to $49.4M for Halloween Kills and $40M for Halloween Ends.
Universal and Peacock closed a $400M deal for global rights to the Exorcist franchise. The new movie sees Ellen Burstyn reprising her role from the 1970s movies as Chris MacNeil.
Exorcist producer Jason Blum celebrating the movie moving up: