Singer Taylor Swift’s new Eras tour concert film has scared off the upcoming horror film, “The Exorcist: Believer.” Universal has shifted the film’s release date to October 6th, a week earlier than planned, to avoid competing with Swift.
This decision came only hours after Swift announced “The Eras Tour” concert film would hit theaters October 13th. The same day “The Exorcist: Believer” was originally scheduled. While a pop singer’s concert and a direct sequel to the 1973 film “The Exorcist” may seem like they don’t have a lot of overlap, Swifties are everywhere. Universal believes it was best to avoid a showdown for audiences, especially with younger women.
AMC Theatres struck a deal with Swift’s camp to directly release the film. They also teamed up with indie distributor Variance to book the film in its locations along with in rival circuits, including Regal and Cinemark. Seat maps at multiple AMC locations, including Los Angeles and New York, are already showing numerous nearly full theaters for Swift’s film over the October 13-15 weekend.
Basically, this filmed concert is shaping up to be as monumental as the Era’s tour itself. Just (probably) not with as extreme of a price tag.
Producer Jason Blum also jokingly confirmed the pop diva was the reason for the shift.
Originally, October 6th would have put “The Exorcist: Believer” up against Sony Pictures’ “Kraven the Hunter.” But in July Sony pushed that release back 10 months due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. Since that would prevent stars like Aaron Taylor-Johnson from promoting the film.
Even though Swift is also a member of SAG-AFTRA, the concert film received a waiver to proceed.
“The Exorcist: Believer” is just the first installment of a new planned trilogy from David Gordon Green. The second installment, “The Exorcist: Deceiver,” is expected on April 18, 2025. But we’ll see if Swift decides to scare away the demons on that release as well.
You can check out the trailer for “The Exorcist: Believer” below:
