The Exorcist: Believer already has an uphill battle as a legacy sequel to one of the best horror movies of all time. Critics will inevitably write about it failing to match the thrills of the original, so producers want to give Believer the best possible chance of making money despite what the reviews say.
And what besides poor critical notes and bad word-of-mouth could cause Believer to make less money? None other than pop artist Taylor Swift. No, Swift has not been working on a new spider-walk to incorporate into her tour. But something just as terrifying to Believer backers Universal, Blumhouse, and Morgan Creek is happening: AMC Theaters has elected to add the new concert film Taylor Swift: Eras Tour to the mid-October schedule.
Per Deadline, the Eras Tour film has drawn more than $10 million in presales within hours of tickets going on sale. Obviously, those who stand to benefit from Believer scaring up a profit at the box office don’t want to go anywhere near a Swift event, given how dedicated her fanbase is. So, they’ve decided to move the film’s release up one week, from Oct. 13 to Oct. 6.
It’s a smart move, as writer/director David Gordon Green’s Halloween legacy sequel drew 47% women in its opening weekend in 2018. Since many, many of Swift’s fans are females, they might be tempted to see their idol at the theater opening weekend instead of gravel-voiced children with bedsores.
Plus, with Sony/Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter shifting to Labor Day weekend 2024 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, there’s plenty of room for bloodlust at the cinema in early October.
In fact, the film’s only competition that month besides Swift is the presumably dire triad of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, David Fincher’s The Killer, and the long-awaited film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s. However, those are all opening in the final two weeks of the month, and Five Nights is launching simultaneously on Peacock.
Believer, however, will have a theatrical-only window, meaning if you want to see someone puke pea soup all over a priest’s collar, you’ll need to pay for a seat at the multiplex.
So what’s the expected quality gap between this new Exorcist and the historical original? Potentially a lot — but remember that most of the Exorcist sequels made so far are total crap. So, if you marathon those beforehand, this new one might seem pretty good after all.
The only truly unique and frightening sequel in the franchise is The Excorcist III, as it was written and directed by original Exorcist author William Peter Blatty. But that one is a supernatural police procedural and more akin to a spinoff than a spiritual sequel.
The new film, meanwhile, seems to invite comparison with the original since it’s once again based around little possessed girls and loops in legacy star Ellen Burstyn. We’ll see if the power of Christ compels audiences on Oct. 6.