Shortly after scaring up a cool $52 million worldwide at the box office, the good folks over at Bloody Disgusting (via their own independent sources) have today revealed that Julius Avery‘s The Pope’s Exorcist has a sequel in early development.
Further details on the plot are still under wraps, although Bloody do tease that they expect star Russell Crowe to return to his role as real-life exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth, the legendary Italian priest who allegedly performed over 100,000 exorcisms for the Vatican.
In case you didn’t manage to catch The Pope’s Exorcist earlier this month, the supernatural horror follows said exorcist “as he investigates the possession of a child and uncovers a conspiracy the Vatican has tried to keep secret.”
Alongside Crowe, the film also stars Franco Neroย (Django, John Wick: Chapter 2) as the titular pope, Laurel Marsdenย (Ms. Marvel),ย Cornell S. Johnย (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald),ย Peter DeSouza-Feighoney,ย Alex Essoeย (Doctor Sleep) andย Daniel Zovattoย (It Follows). Ralph Inesonย (The Witch, The Green Knight) provides the suitably terrifying voice of the film’s demon.
Making $52 million from a reported $18 million budget is impressive stuff, especially when you consider that The Pope’s Exorcist opened up on the same day as Universal’s Nicolas Cage-starring Renfield. Combine that with Evil Dead Rise clocking in with a huge $40 million over the weekend, and it’s been yet another month full of wins for us horror fans.
With 100,000 exorcisms under the late Father’s belt, there’s surely no shortage of demonic tales to tell on the big screen – could this sequel signal the start of a The Pope’s Exorcist franchise? We’ll have all the updates for you as and when we get them!
