Back in July 2021, Universal Pictures purchased the franchise rights toThe Exorcistfrom Morgan Creek for a whopping $400 million. It was a deal that made sense on paper given the pedigree of the 1973 film and its place as one of the scariest films of all time, but upon closer inspection, the amount spent on the rights seems a bit excessive given the fact that the subsequentExorcistsequels have mostly beencritical and financial misfires. The deal included three films being made for a planned trilogy, but given the critical reception of the recently releasedThe Exorcist: Believer, the new trilogy is off to a rough start, and now Universal has to wonder if this particular deal will be worth it in the long run.
1973’sThe Exorcistwas a bona fide hit with critics and moviegoers because audiences hadn’t seen anything like it before, and it truly broke into the cultural consciousness. It was a horror film that transcended the genre and managed to break in with the prestige crowd after it became the first horror movie nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, in addition to nine other nominations. In addition to the critical accolades,The Exorcistalso made Warner Bros. a ton of money, with a worldwide box office take of $441.3 million across its original release and re-releases.
The Exorcist Was Never Meant to Be a Franchise
When a studio has a hit of this stature on its hands, the thought process of making a franchise soon begins. One of the many reasonsThe Exorcisthas struggled as a franchise isbecause William Friedkinand William Peter Blatty’s film wasn’t built to be one. It’s a self-contained story with a powerful singular narrative with a clear and concise beginning, middle, and end. By the time the credits roll, the audience feels like they have had a complete experience without the need for elaboration.
All these years later, when Universal made the $400 million deal for the rights, it’s clear that they mostly paid attention to how lauded the first film was and didn’t really look at the lack of value in the films that followed. Their hope was to have anotherHalloweenon their hands as that legacy sequel franchise that began in 2018 grossed nearly a half-billion worldwide.
The Exorcist: Every Movie in the Franchise, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes
For fifty years, William Friedkin’s iconic horror masterpiece The Exorcist has been terrifying audiences all across the world with its chilling tale.
The Exorcistfranchise is noHalloween. Even if critics haven’t loved everything across the 12Halloweenfilms that have been released, the franchise has seen significant financial success over the years, and the brand, along with Michael Myers himself, has much more reach with horror fans when compared toThe Exorcistseries as a whole.
If you pay attention to the money,The Exorcistfranchise has grossed over $661 million worldwide across five films, but the bulk of that comes from the $441.3 million global take of the first film alone. After the great success of the first movie,Exorcist II: The Hereticwas released in 1977, and it was greeted with largely negative reviews in addition to often being consideredone of the worst films ever made. Also, despite grossing over $30 million domestically against a $14 million budget, the grosses were down considerably from its predecessor, which made it a bit of a financial disappointment for the studio.
The failure ofExorcist II: The Hereticmeant moviegoers wouldn’t get another film until 1990.The Exorcist IIIis set fifteen years afterthe original movie, and it was decided to completely ignore the events of the sequel due to its poor reception. The third film has the benefit of William Peter Blatty writing and directing the project, which gave the release a bit more credibility, but the end result was still met with a mixed response from critics.
The film registers a 57 percent rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, but there is no arguing the critical reception was far better than the second movie. In subsequent years, the film has gone on to become a fan favorite of the series and is considered by many fans to be one of the few good films in the franchise after the first movie. Financially, the film turned a profit thanks to its slim $11 million budget, but its domestic gross of $26 million and worldwide haul of $44 million wasn’t a resounding success either.
The franchise would become a bit of a demonic mess once again with 2004’sExorcist: The Beginningand 2005’sDominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. Due to studio dissatisfaction with what director Paul Schrader was crafting for the prequel, the filmmaker was let go and replaced with Renny Harlin. While Harlin reused some of Schrader’s footage, the director mostly shot new material that beefed up the gore and horror elements.
In the end, both films were released, but they both proved to be critical and financial misfires. Exorcist: The Beginningfared the best financially with a gross of $78 million worldwide on a $50 million budget, but critics ravaged the film with a dismal 10 percent rotten scoreon Rotten Tomatoes.Dominionwas given a limited release in 2005 and grossed a mere $251,495 on a $30 million budget. Reviews were better thanThe Beginningbut still rather dismal at 30 percent rotten on Rotten Tomatoes.
The New Exorcist Trilogy Is Already Off to a Rough Start
Over the weekend,The Exorcist: Believeropened to afranchise-best of $27.2 millionand $45.1 million, with global grosses factored in. Given its $30 million production budget, this would appear to be a decent start, but the legacy sequel is rotten once again at 23%on Rotten Tomatoes, and moviegoers also seem unimpressed given its lackluster “C” CinemaScore from opening day audiences.
It’s difficult to tell if the franchise purchase by Universal actually worked on their behalf because there are two more movies being planned for release, but it’s clear that this latest film didn’t resonate in the same wayHalloweendid back in 2018. That film opened to $76.2 million and was a hit with critics, while some box office analysts believeThe Exorcist: Believerwill likely make about $75 million stateside by the end of its run.
The Exorcist: Believer Review | Someone Spiked the Holy Water
Suspenseful and at times, oddly appealing, ultimately The Exorcist: Believer becomes a hellish retread that misses its great potential.
It would appear that the big thing that Universal missed in the heat of the moment of purchasing the rights for such a hefty price is that the IP isn’t as financially viable as it would appear to be. In addition to the sequels being uneven at best, the original film has been ripped off so many times in movies that have dealtwith demonic possessionthat this has also diluted the brand. There is a sameness even inThe Exorcist: Believerthat doesn’t make it stand out from the pack.
If there is a hope to make this new trilogy succeed, Universal must ensure that the films bring something new to the table. At this present time, the rush to grab the rights seems more like an impulse buy move that wasn’t given the time to look at the big picture.The Exorcistis indeed a classic, but one great film failed to start a franchise that would justify so much money being spent to reinvent it for a new audience.
