David Gordon Green has exited “The Exorcist: Deceiver,” the 2025 sequel to last year’s poorly received sequel in the horror franchise. Universal and Blumhouse are searching for a new director.

“Deceiver” has been removed from Universal’s release calendar and replaced with Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic “Michael,” arriving April 18, 2025. Meanwhile, Green is in production on “Nutcrackers” starring Ben Stiller and Season 4 of HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones.”

“The Exorcist: Believer” failed to conjure up big bucks at the box office and received frighteningly bad reviews, with Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman writing, “The clichés of demonic possession pile up with dutiful nostalgia, but they’ve lost their shock value.”

Related Stories

Photo illustration of a robot's hand holding a magnifying glass VIP+

Cloud Adoption Key to Media Business Exploiting AI

Toxic Fandom

Toxic Fandom: How Hollywood Is Battling Fans Who Are ‘Just Out for Blood’ — From Social Media Boot Camps to Superfan Focus Groups

“Believer” brought in $65 million at the domestic box office, plus $70 million in international markets. Green wrote the screenplay with Peter Sattler and shares a “story by” credit with Scott Teems and “Righteous Gemstones” mastermind Danny McBride, who also wrote and executive produced Green’s “Halloween” trilogy.

Popular on Variety

“The Exorcist: Believer” is set 50 years after and serves as a direct sequel to William Friedkin’s masterpiece, which was the first horror movie to be nominated for the Academy Award for best picture. Ellen Burstyn reprised her role as Chris MacNeil, who now must help two young girls possessed by a demonic force.

Before “Believer” was released, two sequels were confirmed to be in development with Green, McBride, Sattler and Teems on board. Gordon’s exit as director is not entirely surprising, as it was reported that the franchise would undergo some creative changes following “Believer’s” poor reception.

Before taking the reins on “The Exorcist” reboot, Green wrote and directed the final three “Halloween” movies, which starred Jamie Lee Curtis and grossed nearly $500 million at the worldwide box office.

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXOAjp%2BgpaVfo7K4v46dmK%2BhlGK0sL7DqKVmn6Kasq95xLGgratdmsWwvsKiqq1lo5q%2BtrHLZmhra2Vtg3p%2Fl2pm