Universal sets the perfect date for Mike Flanagan's take on horror classic The Exorcist

The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan is set to reboot The Exorcist, and Universal has landed on a release date.

If there's any one date that horror films love to land on, it's Friday the 13th. That's exactly the date that Universal has chosen to release Flanagan's take on the classic horror series, specifically March 13, 2026, so almost a good couple of years away (via Deadline). The reboot was announced last month, where Flanagan said that he's aiming to make something "fresh, bold, and terrifying within its universe." According to the original press release, the film is "an all-new story set in The Exorcist universe and is not a sequel to 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer."

That last bit is clearly an important one for Universal to bring up, as you might not have realised that a new Exorcist film was actually released last year, the aforementioned Exorcist: Believer. It only grossed $137 million at the box office, which on a budget of $30 million normally wouldn't be too bad, but Universal had acquired the rights to the series in 2021 for a costly $400 million. So, you can see why it might not have been happy with how the sequel turned out. The Exorcist: Believer was actually meant to be the first part of a trilogy, but that's since been scrapped in favour of rebooting the franchise, which is why we now have Flanagan's film in the works.

Much like Believer, the reboot will also be produced by Blumhouse, marking this as the fourth time the production company and Flanagan have worked together. They've previously made Oculus (2013), Hush (2016), and Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) together. Flanagan is these days best known for his numerous Netflix series like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, as well as 2019's The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep.