Development on Mike Flanagan’s Exorcist movie is speeding up rapidly as it has landed a release date from Universal and Blumhouse. The iconic horror franchise made its way back to the screen with the 2023 legacy sequel, Believer, from the indie horror studio, who collaborated with Universal and Peacock for a $400 million acquisition of the rights to the property. Despite initial plans for a trilogy from co-writer/director David Gordon Green, the movie’s poor box office reception and reviews led to a retooling, with Mike Flanagan being brought on to write and direct a new installment.
Per Deadline, Universal and Blumhouse have added Flanagan’s Exorcist movie to their 2026 release calendar. The next installment in the horror franchise, which will not share ties to 2023’s Believer, is set to hit theaters on March 13, 2026. Though outside of the typical horror month of October, it still proves a perfect release date as it is a Friday the 13th.
Flanagan’s Exorcist Release Date Is Risky (But Could Work)
Interestingly, Flanagan’s Exorcist movie release date marks the first time the horror franchise has brought an installment to the big screen in the spring, with the majority of past outings releasing in the summer. The sole exceptions have been the 1973 classic, which hit theaters just after Christmas of that year, and The Exorcist: Believer, which hit theaters the first week of October. Check out the Exorcist franchise’s previous calendar of releases below:
| Title | Release Date |
|---|---|
| The Exorcist | December 26, 1973 |
| Exorcist II: The Heretic | June 17, 1977 |
| The Exorcist III | August 17, 1990 |
| Exorcist: The Beginning | August 20, 2004 |
| Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist | May 20, 2005 |
| The Exorcist: Believer | October 6, 2023 |
| Mike Flanagan’s Untitled Exorcist Movie | March 13, 2026 |
While releasing the next Exorcist movie outside of October may seem like a riskier move on the part of Universal and Blumhouse, it could actually prove a successful one for Flanagan’s installment. In addition to the original movie’s blockbuster success with its Christmas release, Flanagan’s first theatrical outing with Oculus was a smash hit in its April date. March 2026 is also looking to be a relatively quieter month thus far, particularly in regard to other horror genre movies, with the only releases set thus far being Bill Hader’s Cat in the Hat reboot, an untitled Pixar project and Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary.
Studios have also been experimenting with horror releases in the first few months of the year, some of which have proven massive hits, including Blumhouse’s own M3GAN and Jordan Peele’s Get Out, among others. While Flanagan’s Exorcist does have the hurdle of following the disappointing response to Believer, separating it from other horror releases, which Believer suffered from by competing against Saw X, could see a successful continuation of this experimental release trend.