"The Exorcist: Believer" to be released earlier to avoid competing with Taylor Swift concert movie
The opening of the movie "The Exorcist: Believer" has been moved a week earlier to avoid competition with Taylor Swift's concert movie, the producer of the horror film, Jason Blum, confirmed Thursday on social media.
Blum posted the new release date of Oct. 6 on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the hashtag #TaylorWins. "The Exorcist: Believer" and Swift's concert movie based on her smash "The Eras" tour were both first scheduled to be released on Oct. 13.
Fans had dubbed the pending double release "Exorswift" on social media, but the potential of "Swifties" overshadowing the demonic film —the sixth installment in "The Exorcist" franchise— proved too powerful.
"Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" smashed advanced sales records on the first day of presales for the concert movie with AMC –the movie chain distributing the film– reporting $26 million in sales on Friday.
The movie "shattered records for single-day advance ticket sales revenue at AMC," the company said in a statement. The previous record of $16.9 million was held by "Spider-Man: No Way Home," which Swift beat in just three hours, AMC said.
Shortly after Swift announced the movie, AMC said they bolstered their server capacity in preparation for skyrocketing demand for tickets. After the first day of presales, the chain announced all AMC theaters nationwide will show the film four times a day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to meet demand.
On Thursday, Swift tweeted, "The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I'm overjoyed to tell you that it'll be coming to the big screen soon. Starting Oct 13th you'll be able to experience the concert film in theaters in North America!"
Reporting contributed by Gina Martinez
