Exorcist: The Beginning
Go Back...to where evil was born

Director: Paul Schrader
Release Date: Unknown

This is the original version of the Morgan Creek/Warner Brother's prequel Exorcist: The Beginning. It is the fourth film in the franchise, following the critically acclaimed original and its two sub-par sequels.

The film was completed by Paul Schrader, but Morgan Creek felt it did not have enough gore and therefore hired fellow horror-director Renny Harlin to complete 98% reshoots of the film.

However, due to contractual obligations, Morgan Creek/Warner Brothers is required to release the alternate version of the film, either direct-to-dvd or through a theatrical release..

Trailer: Here (zip file)

I like Renny as a director but his version of The Exorcist didn't work for me. I hope to see Paul's version. I know it's getting screened at a European film festival.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4276849.stm

I haven't seen any of the Exorcist sequels, though I plan to watch them sometime over the next few months. I'll probably rent Exorcist: The Beginning when it comes out.

Even if it gets good reviews, it'll bomb because of how much people hated the other version.

People hated the original version? Outside of your general movie message board geeks (no offense intended towards any of us )? Everyone I know who saw Harlin's film liked it.

That said, the trailer is downloading now, and I'm very much looking forward to Schrader's film. It's in the vein of The Exorcist and Legion, the two films in the series that I absolutely adore. However, from the two screencaps Bloody-Disgusting posted... When I read the script, I thought the statue with the Pazuzu head would be a little more terrifying and a little less cheesy.

ADDED:

Okay, Cheche just looks goofy.

I hated Harlin's version, but I am eagerly waiting for this one.

God knows ETB sucked. Hard. Not enough meat here to tell if this one is worthwhile. It couldn't be anyworse. It is kinda wierd to see two movies with the same characters and name... heh....

It's the same damn thing, just slower with a different possessed person at the end.

i never seen Renny Harlin's version, so i don't think i should see this one either.

The whole concept of making another one of these movies was Absurd to the say the least and the only sequel to The EXORCIST that's even remotely worth tuning into is The EXORCIST III... Now that IS good and I like how they brought the young priest into play blended with The Gemini Killer.. :2up:

Warner didn't produce this movie; Morgan Creek produced this movie.
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=8483

You are correct mary. I meant to change that once I read that.

Thank you~~ :razz:

In fact, Warner Bros releases this movie because of their "rent-a-system" deal with Morgan Creek. (which means that Warner Bros paid $0 on this movie; they releases this movie for a
percentage distribution fee.) Although Exorcist: The Beginning became a box office BOMB, Warner Bros are actually making a nice profit on this movie.

Beginning pulled in over $40 million domestically. That's not a hit, but it's not a bomb either. Especially when just about every 'forecaster' was predicting much, much less.

The original production budget was $80 million, but it likely exceeded that due to all the reshoots. The P&A budget was an additional $25 million. That is over $105 million, and the studio likely made only around $40 million total off of the worldwide box office. Granted it should pull in at least that much from DVD sales, but the film still did bomb at the domestic box office.

:wink: I fixed it in the original post too.

Exorcist: The Beginning would need to sell around 10-15 million combined VHS/DVD sales of the original version and another 2-3 million of the alternate version to cover costs (as there are likely editing, sound, special effects and DVD production costs).

10-15 million combined? Even if we say the rental/video chains get 50% of the profits on sales, five or six million copies sold would break even, considering Morgan Creek actually "profitted" on something like $53 million of the worldwide gross.

The final budget is not known though but is estimated due to the reshoots to be around $100-$120 million.

Anyway, Morgan Creek's president was hoping for $40 million opening weekend.

Therefore, this movie is definitely a box office disappointment.

It's $85 million. Schrader's film cost $35 million and Harlin's film came in (ironically) at $50 million.



Either James Robinson is a complete and utter moron (which is possible, as he keeps trying to force an Exorcist television series onto the air), or he was misquoted and meant $40 million total (which makes it the second highest grossing picture in the series; an opening weekend of that size would top the total gross of Exorcist III: Legion). I lean towards the ladder, if only for the man's sanity.

Even with the budget at $85 million, the total budget was around $125 million-$140 million depending on international P&A. The film still needs to sell quite a few DVDs in order to earn a profit.

I doubt Warner Bros/Morgan Creek spent more than $30 million on worldwide marketing. Maybe $20 million domestically and $10 overseas. So that's $65 million you need to cover in DVD sales, which is pretty doable.

.
From LA times, Aug 18, 2004. article "A devil of a time; Three directors, six writers and two stars later, an 'Exorcist' prequel is ready to open."





In fact, as I said before, Warner Bros paid $0 on this movie.


However, The Dark Shape, I agree with you that this movie will break even. DVD market had saved so many box office bombs.