Blumhouse Productions is a company that has made its name on low-cost, high-yield genre fare – turning out films that don’t cost a lot which allows them to take risks and occasionally really break through.
The result is cost-effective franchises and occasional awards fare ranging from “Paranormal Activity,” “The Purge,” “Happy Death Day” and the recent “Halloween” trilogy to “BlacKkKlansman,” “The Invisible Man,” “M3GAN,” “The Black Phone,” “Get Out,” “Split” and more.
The company has taken some big swings in the past, but according to founder Jason Blum, all pale in comparison to one of their upcoming projects – their “The Exorcist” legacy sequel trilogy.
Speaking with IndieWire for a wide-ranging interview, Blum says writer-director David Gordon Green’s upcoming continuation of the iconic 1973 horror film is the riskiest project the company has ever taken – all due to the expense:
“The riskiest movie I have ever made for sure is not out yet. It’s ‘The Exorcist.’ Just because it’s so expensive. Usually, the bar to success on everything we do because it’s inexpensive is incredibly low.
For ‘The Exorcist,’ it’s high. It’s not high risk for Blumhouse. We’ve obviously already been paid, but it’s high risk for our partners. So when you ask me what the riskiest thing we’ve ever worked on is, I take that as for us or our financial partners. In the case of ‘The Exorcist,’ that would be the biggest one, because it’s a high risk for Universal.”
Indeed, despite the first film’s stellar reputation, the franchise has had a colorful history in terms of sequels of varying quality and little profitability. Thus Universal paying out $400 million for a new “The Exorcist” trilogy back in mid-2021 raised eyebrows and is easily Blumhouse’s biggest financial gamble.
Leslie Odom Jr. stars in the film as a parent with a possessed child who goes to Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) for advice. Linda Blair is also rumored to be returning.
