It's been nearly fifty years since the release of THE EXORCIST, but the film has easily stood the test of time as one of the greatest horror movies of all-time. In that time, we've seen plenty of classic horror movies receive the reboot treatment, and it would seem that THE EXORCIST could be next in line.
Buried in a report at Deadline was the tidbit that Morgan Creek Entertainment is developing a theatrical reboot of THE EXORCIST which is in the works for 2021. That's all we've got at this time, but as soon as we learn more, we'll be sure to keep you updated. I can't imagine that many people are actually out there demanding a reboot of THE EXORCIST, but as it's a very recognizable IP, it was only a matter of time before the classic film was remade.
Although we might be scratching our heads at the thought of a reboot of THE EXORCIST, it's not like the film didn't spawn its own share of sequels, prequels, and even a TV show. Some of the sequels were dreadful (EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC) while others were surprisingly decent (THE EXORCIST III), and the two prequels (EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING and DOMINION: PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST) at least managed serve as an interesting experiment of the same movie directed by two different people. The most recent EXORCIST project was a short-lived TV series which was actually embraced by critics before Fox pulled the plug after two seasons.
While speaking with IndieWire, William Friedkin, the director of THE EXORCIST, said that he's never bothered to watch the sequels to THE EXORCIST.
I never saw any of the Exorcist films, not even Bill’s [William Blatty, author of “The Exorcist” novel]. I saw a few minutes of “Exorcist II,” but that was only because I was in the Technicolor lab timing a film that I had directed — I forget which one — and one of the color timers at Technicolor said, hey, we just made a print of “Exorcist II,” would you like to have a look at it? I said OK. I went in, and after five minutes, it just blasted me. I couldn’t take it. I thought it was just ridiculous and stupid. But that was only five minutes, so I can’t make an ultimate judgement about it. It just seemed to me to have nothing to do with “The Exorcist.” I know Bill [Blatty] did one, which was not meant to be called “Exorcist III.” It was from another novel he’d written called “Legion.” I had no interest. I loved Bill Blatty. I dedicated my documentary to him and we remained close friends to his death. But I know that he had to make a lot of compromises — he had to put an exorcism scene in there, which he never intended, so that the producers could call it “Exorcist III.”
Are you down for a big-screen reboot of THE EXORCIST, or should the project be thrown out the window?