If you sensed that the next big franchise resurrection was on its way, you weren’t wrong. Horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan — who’s spent the last decade redefining modern gothic storytelling — is taking a swing at one of the genre’s most haunted properties with a new “Exorcist” film. And he’s doing it with a marquee star: Scarlett Johansson, making her first foray into full-bore supernatural horror.
According to Deadline, the project marks a sharp creative pivot for Blumhouse, which remains closely associated with the late William Friedkin’s 1973 classic — the ne plus ultra of possession cinema. But crucially, this new film is not a sequel to the David Gordon Green version of “The Exorcist,” which failed to light up the box office or reignite the franchise despite Universal’s massive investment. Instead, Flanagan’s film is described as a new take, with no narrative connection to the Green-directed entry.
For Flanagan — whose career ranges from “Doctor Sleep” to the acclaimed Netflix runs of “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Midnight Mass” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” — this is the first time he’s stepping into a mega-legacy franchise. And frankly, it’s a fascinating match. Few filmmakers working today handle grief, faith, horror, mythology, and emotional devastation with as much ferocity or elegance as Flanagan. Johansson, meanwhile, has rarely tackled horror in this key, making the pairing an immediately intriguing proposition.
Details are tightly locked down — no plot, no characters, no tone beyond the implication that Flanagan is not here to dust off old iconography or chase nostalgia—even the question of whether this is a theatrical release or a streaming-first strategy remains unclear. However, the larger creative shift is unmistakable: following the mixed reception to Green’s trilogy plans, Universal and Blumhouse appear ready to rethink the entire playbook.
Flanagan is currently reveling in the afterglow of his Stephen King adaptation “The Life of Chuck,” which starred Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill and played to solid reviews, making “Exorcist” his next major studio swing.
No release date has been announced yet, casting information beyond Johansson’s involvement is not available, and no logline exists. But with Flanagan and Johansson onboard, the franchise suddenly feels alive again — or at least possessed by far more interesting spirits than we’ve seen in a long time.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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