Hold onto your Holy Water, folks! Despite the fact that the latest addition to the Exorcist series – "Believer" – didn't exactly make audiences head-spin or projectile-vomit with delight, the ecclesiastic horror train is set to keep on rolling!
Now, "Believer" might've garnished a decent dough at the box office – think $44.2 million globally and $26.5 million domestically – but spiritually, it found itself exorcised from the hearts of critics and fans. Honestly, when that many reviewers are chanting "The power of Rotten Tomatoes compels you!", it's typically a death knell for a horror franchise.
This has been the debutante ball for Blumhouse Productions, having assumed the rights to the famous franchise, only to perform a financial version of that awkward moment when the priest arrives too late and the kid's already possessed. So what's next for them? Apparently, they're strapping back on the clerical collar, armed with holy water and a copy of "Screenwriting For Dummies".
They say that feedback is a gift, and it appears that Blumhouse has taken that to heart. Following the less-than-stellar reception for "Believer", the production house is evidently revising their exorcism manual for the next two scheduled movie morsels in the series. “Believer’s reception will almost certainly demand some degree of creative rethink for the next two films," are the whispers in Hollywood's haunted house.
However, the congregation isn't entirely lost for Blumhouse. They have another potential savior lined up in their spooky schedule. Their adaptation of the popular video game, "Five Nights at Freddy’s", already seems to be appeasing the cinema gods. The production costs have already been covered by pre-bought tickets and streaming rights, showing that this production house might just have a few divine interventions up its sleeve yet.
The Exorcist series appears to be taking a page from the Book of the Dead rather than the Bible, and refuses to stay dead. While we hope Blumhouse has learned some valuable lessons from the "Believer debacle" (feel free to use that term, folks!), we can only pray they've saved their cinematic souls for the sequels.
So, in the immortal words of the genre legend, Freddy Krueger, "Welcome to prime time", Blumhouse! Let's hope you fare better than the dreams of the kids on Elm Street.
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