25
25
Which cult horror movie remake will star Scarlett Johansson as a scream queen?
According to early reports from American media Variety, the brilliant American-Danish actress Scarlett Johansson will take the lead role in Mike Flanagan’s upcoming film, a reinterpretation of the horror classic film The Exorcist. Numéro breaks it down.
Mike Flanagan gives a new lease of live to The Exorcist
Mike Flanagan didn’t wait long before diving back into a major project. Just months after the theatrical release of The Life of Chuck, a sensitive odyssey praised by critics, the American director is making a radical shift in tone by tackling a monument of the horror genre, The Exorcist. The filmmaker will shoot a new version of the film in New York in 2026. Horror is a genre Mike Flanagan knows well, having directed Mike Flanagan (2019) and the series The Haunting of Hill House (2018), two projects that found a devoted audience.
Released in 1973, William Friedkin’s feature The Exorcist have left its mark on the history of cinema, portraying a mother’s desperate struggle to save her possessed daughter. Awarded two Oscars and four Golden Globes, it remains a landmark of the horror genre and the first horror film to be nominated at the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Scarlett Johansson as a scream queen
Few details have emerged so far about Mike Flanagan’s new film, but Variety confirms that Scarlett Johansson will play the lead role in this new adaptation of William Peter Blatty‘s novel of the same name. After captivating audiences at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival with Eleanor the Great, her directorial debut, the actress is now preparing to return in a darker register. This will also mark the first time she takes on the mantle of a scream queen.
In a press release, Mike Flanagan stated: “Scarlett is a brilliant actress whose captivating performances always feel grounded and real, from genre films to summer blockbusters, and I couldn’t be happier to have her join this Exorcist film.”
The announcement of this new version of The Exorcist comes in a particular context. In 2021, Universal, which produces the film alongside Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, invested nearly $400 million to develop a new trilogy based on the 1971 novel. But the first installment, The Exorcist: Believer (2023), was a disappoitnment despite the return of Ellen Burstyn. The choice of Mike Flanagan as director may be just what they needed to revive a faltering franchise…
The Exorcist, directed by Mike Flanagan, does not have a release date yet.
