Less than a week ago we’ve learned that Morgan Creek Productions is planning on selling off domestic rights to much of their domestic library. With 78 films under their belt they’ve got quite a few films that they can sell off but there are five specifically that they plan to keep. According to Deadline, “As part of any sale, Morgan Creek would retain remake rights for five titles — Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Major League, Young Guns, Flying Tigers and The Exorcist — but pay a percentage of the gross profit to the new owner of the library” which they follow up to say that remakes are currently in the works for a few of those including ‘The Exorcist’.
This 1973 classic is thought to be one of the most iconic horror films of all time so of course a remake isn’t going to go over well with fans of the genre or original film.
Thankfully, director William Friedkin chimed in with some good news on why that doesn’t actually seem to be the case!
I mention it only in passing, but I don’t believe Morgan Creek has rights to THE ORIGINAL, only the so-called sequels.
— William Friedkin (@WilliamFriedkin) September 25, 2015
In case there was any confusion to his thoughts on the franchise that Morgan Creek turned his masterpiece into he followed that up by saying:
Dear HitFix…correction: I COMPLETELY denounce a remake of The Exorcist by Morgan Creek. — William Friedkin (@WilliamFriedkin) September 26, 2015
So if Friedkin has any voice in the matter no remake will see the light of day. Thankfully, the original article may prove to be wrong as a remake doesn’t appear to be Morgan Creek Productions’ goal. It isn’t clear if this is a rights issue or not but they don’t currently have responded to Friedkin that they wouldn’t try to remake it:
@WilliamFriedkin Despite what was printed, we can assure you we would NEVER EVER attempt to remake The Exorcist.
— Morgan Creek (@Morgan__Creek) September 28, 2015
For those who don’t read replied they ended up sharing the details to the public as well:
For the record, we will never attempt to remake THE EXORCIST — Morgan Creek (@Morgan__Creek) September 28, 2015
So there you have it folks. At this point of time Morgan Creek Productions will “NEVER EVER attempt to remake The Exorcist'” even though they are keeping the rights after potentially selling off many of their prior releases. Could this be a long term rights issue or sequel play on their part? Its hard to say but for the time being we can all rest easy on the horror that is the thought of a remake of the movie.
Are you happy to hear that there are no plans for a remake of ‘The Exorcist’? Do you think the franchise should be put to bed or is it ripe to be revisisted with a new focus? Share your thoughts below!
