The Exorcist: Believer Trailer Terrifies CinemaCon With Possessed Tweens, Demonic Voices

Diners at Las Vegas’ many buffets may want to skip the split pea soup after a new trailer for “The Exorcist” shook the audience at Caesar’s Palace to its core on Wednesday.

The rebooted franchise from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse debuted its first trailer to the annual convention of movie theater owners on Wednesday. The new saga is led by Tony and Grammy award winner Leslie Odom Jr. (“Hamilton”) and Ellen Burstyn, who reprises the role of Chris MacNeil from the 1973 original directed by William Friedkin. The first “Exorcist” was a critical and commercial phenomenon, following two priests trying to rid an innocent girl of a nasty demonic possession.

Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum star as schoolyard pals who go missing in the woods, returned to their parents after what they think is hours — but in reality, is three days. In no time the girls exhibit strange symptoms and long bouts of staring dead-eyed in the mirror. Ann Dowd — of course — pops up as a worried nurse and seriously scary sh*t starts going down. It becomes clear that both have been taken over by sinister forces — especially in one horrifying scene when Marcum storms a church service in broad daylight. As a priest delivers the eucharist, she screams, “The body and the blood!” repeatedly in the franchise’s signature booming demon voice.

“It struck something primal in audiences around the world, its depiction of innocence corrupted by something evil,” director David Gordon Green told the crowd ahead of the footage.

Announced nearly two years ago, Universal committed a staggering $400 million for the new trilogy, with plans for a traditional wide release and an exclusive SVOD window for its streaming service Peacock.

Along with Blum, David Robinson, via his company Morgan Creek Entertainment, will also serve as a producer. Blumhouse executive Couper Samuelson is executive producer.

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Jenniffer Sheldon

Update: 2024-08-28

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