Exorcist Producer Talks Changing Movie Date Because Taylor Swift “Scares Me To Death”

Exorcist: The Believer was scheduled to hit theaters on October 13 until Taylor Swift announced that her Eras Tour concert film would be released that same day. Blumhouse, the studio behind the Exorcist, moved the movie’s date up a week to avoid a clash with the pop star’s film, which is expected to do big, big numbers.

Jason Blum, the head of Blumhouse, has now commented on the decision, telling Entertainment Weekly, “The one thing that scares me to death is Taylor Swift!”

It was a big deal to move the date, as Friday the 13th in October would be the “single best day to release a scary movie,” Blum said. At one point, Blum apparently considered holding the date to create what he called Barbenheimer-like “Exorswift” moment, but he ultimately decided to shift The Believer’s date to avoid a head-to-head clash

“Obviously, we moved off that [date] and we bowed our head to Taylor Swift,” Blum said. “It was too risky to see if ‘Exorswift’ was going to take or not. People will still have the Exorswift opportunity, so maybe we got to have our cake and eat it too.”

Believer is directed by David Gordon Green, who previously directed the recent Halloween movies. The movie stars Leslie Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett, and Olivia Marcum. The movie also brings back Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn, who returns to the series for the first time since the 1973 original The Exorcist.

As for the Eras Tour concert movie, it’s a movie version of her ongoing Eras Tour concert series. It broke pre-sale records at AMC and some believe it could earn $100 million or more for its opening weekend.

Swift’s star is burning even brighter these days given all the hype and interest around her relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce. More people talking about Swift is a good thing for the prospects of her film, and it’s expected that marketing and promotion for the Eras Tour movie will only increase in the days and weeks ahead.