Well, color me surprised. David Gordon Green is no longer directing the sequel, “Exorcist: Deceiver.” Most of our readers could see this coming a mile away. A search is said to be currently underway for a new director.
“Exorcist: Deceiver” was supposed to be released on April 18, 2025. It’s now been delayed indefinitely.
After the poor reception of “Exorcist: Believer”, there had been reporting that a creative re-think would be done for the next two films, this after Green had expressed doubts about his future participation.
Green is currently busy, going back to his indie roots, with the low budgeted Ben Stiller movie “Nutcrackers.” I’ll take a wild guess and say that he’s not going back to IP filmmaking for a little while. That’s a good thing. Green is a talented filmmaker who deserves better than to make IP horror claptrap.
When it was released last October, “The Exorcist: Believer” had a terrible reception — a 23% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was one of the worst-reviewed movies of 2023. In my writeup, I called it a “shit sandwich.”
The writing was on the wall for this one. In May 2022, a little over six months before it would be released, ‘Believer’ test-screened in NYC and the response was terrible. A few months later, it tested again, and the response was just as negative.
Back in 2021, Universal Studios purchased the ‘Exorcist’ horror franchise from Morgan Creek for $400M in the hopes of creating a blockbuster trilogy. Universal might not make their money back.