Marvel and Jurassic World: Rebirth star Scarlett Johansson has signed on to appear in the new Exorcist movie from horror writer and director Mike Flanagan.
Last year, it was reported that Flanagan, who led the charge on Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House, and The Fall of the House of Usher, was creating the new Exorcist film with Blumhouse. At the time it was described as a “radical new take” for the series.
The Exorcist, released in 1973, is about the demonic possession of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil, played by Linda Blair, whose mother, a famous actress, seeks help from two Catholic priests after medical and psychological treatments fail. One is a skeptical young priest, Father Karras, the other an experienced exorcist, Father Merrin. Together they perform an exorcism to save Regan from the demonic entity.
The Exorcist was a blockbuster hit, largely due to extreme audience reactions that included fainting and sickness, which fueled a media frenzy and viral marketing-style word-of-mouth. The cultural conversation around the film helped it become the first horror film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as nine others.
Variety, which was first to report that Johansson had joined the cast of the new Exorcist, carried a quote from Flanagan: “Scarlett is a brilliant actress whose captivating performances always feel grounded and real, from genre films to summer blockbusters, and I couldn’t be happier to have her join this Exorcist film.”
A new chapter for the classic horror franchise follows 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer, a movie deemed a disappointment by many. The film, which was originally set to kickstart a now-cancelled trilogy, premiered to middling reviews and managed to bring in $65.5 million domestically and $136.2 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. These were less-than-stellar numbers for a franchise that was said to have cost Universal $400 million, so when director David Gordon Green exited the franchise, fans were left in the dark.
According to Variety, Flanagan’s Exorcist is set in the same universe as the original, 1973 The Exorcist, and so is not a sequel to Believer. Johansson is coming off the back of this year's blockbuster hit, Jurassic World Rebirth, in which she played Zora Bennett.
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Photo by JC Olivera/Variety via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/marvel-jurassic-world-star-scarlett-johansson-joins-mike-flanagans-new-exorcist-movie