A Remake of ‘The Exorcist’ Could be in the Works

Batten down the hatches, there’s a storm a brewing. You don’t want to be caught outside when this remake news gets out into the wild.

Deadline released a report today that Morgan Creek is selling off the rights to a few of it’s most notable films.  These include movies like “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”, “Major League”, “Young Guns”, “Flying Tigers”, and . . . “The Exorcist.”  Now, just because a major studio is selling off it’s film rights, doesn’t mean that a remake is forthcoming.  However, Morgan Creek CEO Jim Robinson shared this tidbit which hints at what might come out of these sales:

Hmmm, could a remake of Major League and Ace be in the works? “Yes,” said Robinson, who said that ideas are being tossed right now for both those and The Exorcist.

Given the number of sequels and prequels that “The Exorcist” has had, it shouldn’t be too surprising that someone has finally decided to go back to the well one more time and extract a remake.  For horror fans, this is obviously sacrilege and people will be upset about it, but for the general audience will it be such a big deal?  There hasn’t be an “Exorcist” film in a long while, so a new movie carrying that iconic name could prove to be big business.  It’d be an event film.  Then again, I would’ve thought the same about “Poltergeist”, but that didn’t do so well at the box office.

Either way, it’ll be interesting to see who takes up the challenge of remaking this classic film.  Could you imagine if Max von Sydow reprised his role as Father Merrin? He’d actually be the right age now and wouldn’t require all that make-up.

Update: Here’s an added bonus. “Exorcist” director William Friedkin is none too happy.

In my opinion, Morgan Creek has Tarnished THE EXORCIST enough, with its “Sequels.”

— William Friedkin (@WilliamFriedkin) September 24, 2015