David Gordon Green Exits ‘The Exorcist’ Sequel, The Search Is On For New Director

David Gordon Green is no longer directing Universal/Blumhouse/Morgan Creek’s The Exorcist: Deceiver, the sequel to The Exorcist: Believer. A search is underway for a new director.

The movie was originally set for an April 18 2025 release, but Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic Michael just took over that date, a project which Universal has overseas distribution.

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As such, The Exorcist: Deceiver‘s theatrical date is now unset.

Green is currently busy with the Ben Stiller movie Nutcrackers, as well as the fourth season of the HBO comedy series The Righteous Gemstones.

Universal and Blumhouse bought the Exorcist franchise rights for a trilogy from Morgan Creek back in July 2021 for an exorbitant $400M. However, things didn’t go as planned at the box office with the first movie, with The Exorcist: Believer opening to a soft $26.4M domestic and grossing $65.5M U.S./Canada, $136.2M WW.

The bid for the package was made by Universal during a time when studios were in a frenzy to develop big content for their streaming platforms. Horror with Green’s Halloween sequels proved to be a sub driver for Peacock.

Uni and Blumhouse’s buy of Exorcist wasn’t a plan by which three movies would be made for $133M each. The Exorcist deal was a broader franchise driver for Uni, which also included a buyout of talent and rights backends, producer fees, rights to leverage IP across the portfolio (theme parks/Halloween Horror Nights, experiences, branding).

We had heard there was a push by those involved with Five Night at Freddy’s to make that near $300M global blockbuster theatrical hit exclusive to cinemas instead of day-and-date with Peacock, and instead have Exorcist go day-and-date. Uni didn’t bite on that option and kept Exorcist: Believer primary to theaters in its first window.

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