Taking on Taylor Swift at the Box Office Scared ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ Producer Jason Blum
One thing scares The Exorcist: Believer producer Jason Blum: going head-to-head with Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour at the box office. The Exorcist sequel, originally scheduled for an October 13 release, got bumped up a week earlier to avoid opening weekend competition from the Taylor Swift concert film.
“The one thing that scares me to death is Taylor Swift!” jokes Blum to Entertainment Weekly. The power of Swifties — not Christ — compels him. “Obviously, we moved off that December 9, 2023 and we bowed our head to Taylor Swift,” Blum says. “It was too risky to see if ‘Exorswift' was going to take or not. People will still have the Exorswift opportunity, so maybe we got to have our cake and eat it too.”
Exorswift Might Happen, but Not on the Same Level as Barbenheimer
The Exorcist: Believer is a direct sequel to 1973's The Exorcist, ignoring all the other sequels. David Gordon Green, who had great success bringing back Jamie Lee Curtis for his recent Halloween trilogy, directs. For The Exorcist: Believer, Gordon convinced Ellen Burstyn to reprise her role as Chris MacNeil. “I really give David Gordon Green credit for that,” Blum says. “He was able to get Jamie Lee Curtis comfortable [on 2018's Halloween], and David got Ellen to feel comfortable to join us in this iteration of her iconic movie.”
According to a press release posted by AMC Theatres, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour will appear on thousands of screens, including IMAX. The press release states, “Not only did [the Eras Tour] shatter all concert sales records, it also left tens of millions of adoring fans wanting more, either because they attended the concert and wanted to see it again, or after being unable to obtain tickets for sold-out performance after sold-out performance after sold-out performance.” Deadline reports that a $75 million opening for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is not out of the question. Presales for the concert movie have reportedly reached $65 million already, meaning that it can expect an opening on par with Marvel movies such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
If Exorswift becomes a phenomenon à la Barbenheimer, fans will have to wait until at least October 13 for a double feature. “We had this amazing Friday the 13th in October, which is the single best day to release a scary movie,” says Blum. “Obviously, we moved off that and we bowed our head to Taylor Swift.”
The Exorcist: Believer opens in theaters nationwide on October 6. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opens in theaters everywhere on October 13.
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.
