FOLLOWING the widespread condemnation over the quality of last year’s The Exorcist: Believer, the film’s sequel, The Exorcist: Deceiver, has lost its director, David Gordon Green.

Despite recouping its production budget of US$30 million (RM139 million) by raking in US$137 million (RM636 million) at the global box office, Believer failed to provide proof that the trilogy Universal Pictures had planned to produce would be able to post a profit.

This is after it spent US$400 million (RM1.8 billion) getting the rights to the franchise.

Right after Believer’s release and the volley of scathing criticisms shot at it, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that its sources at Universal Pictures have allegedly claimed that there would be “some degree of creative rethink for the next two films”.

Prior to Believer, Green had written and directed the three Halloween films from 2018 to 2022, which were blockbuster hits at the worldwide box office that grossed nearly US$500 million in total.

Additionally, Deceiver was also removed from its 2025 release window and it was replaced with Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic, Michael.

Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions are currently looking for a new director to helm the project.