Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” concert movie fends off demons, sending “The Exorcist: Believer” packing

Let it be known that 2023 is the year of the Swifties. Since March, fans of the esteemed pop star flocked to her Eras Tour, which sold over 2.4 million tickets on the first day of sales, causing Ticketmaster’s website to crash from all the traffic. The ongoing tour has so far earned a record-setting $1 billion in sales, making it a possible contender for the highest-grossing tour of all time, and even caused seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake — better known as the “Swift Quake.”

Simply put, Taylor Swift is powerful. She’s even more powerful than demonic possession.

On Thursday, Swift announced her concert movie would release in theaters on Oct. 13, and much rejoicing was had by all . . . except. Jason Blum, the founder of Blumhouse Productions. It turns out the studio’s highly anticipated horror flick “The Exorcist: Believer”  was also slated for that same date. Although the counterprogramming of disparate movies worked for “Barbenheimer” (the pinkness of “Barbie” offsetting the explosiveness of “Oppenheimer”) with their simultaneous release prompting the most unlikely double feature, that particular lightning in a bottle is no match for Swifties, and Blumhouse knew it.

Later that day, Blum announced that “The Exorist: Believer” will instead release one week earlier, on Oct. 6, to give the movie a fighting chance before Swifties overtake the theaters.

Blum took to social media to accept his defeat and quote Swift lyrics, writing on X (formerly Twitter), “Look what you made me do. The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23. #TaylorWins.” Swift’s ardent fan base also took to the platform to celebrate the news, albeit comically.

“The Exorcist: Believer moving release dates to not compete with the Eras Tour Film just proves that Taylor Swift is a goddess because demons only run from Gods,” wrote one user, while another posted, “Even the devils from the realm of hell has no choice but to bow to Taylor.”

Some fans used the opportunity to share edited movie posters with Swift’s power stance on display. Forget about “The Exorcist,” they said, it’s now time for “The Exorswift.”

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Swift’s concert film, titled “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” has already managed to break the record for the highest-ever single-day advance ticket sales following its announcement. Per The Hollywood Reporter, ticket presales for the film hit $26 million after the first day for distributor AMC Theatres. Seat maps at numerous AMC locations, including in Los Angeles and New York, also showed several sold-out theaters over the Oct. 13-15 weekend.  

Although “The Exorcist: Believer” will no longer be competing against Swift, the film will still take on Craig Gillespie’s GameStop stock drama “Dumb Money,” which is slated for wide release on Oct. 6.

The upcoming “Exorcist” film is the sixth installment in “The Exorcist” franchise, and will serve as a direct sequel to the 1973 film “The Exorcist,” which celebrates its 50th anniversary. Ellen Burstyn returns as Chris MacNeil, whose daughter Regan experienced a paranormal possession in the original. Set 50 years after those events, “The Exorcist: Believer” follows Leslie Odom Jr. as Victor Fielding, the father of demonically possessed girls who seeks help from MacNeil.