Black Widow / Photo by Jay Maidment/Jay Maidment – © Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Scarlett Johansson, who played the lead in “Jurassic World: Rebirth” and  a member of the Marvel team, has been announced as the lead for Mike Flanagan’s new take on the “Exorcist” franchise at Blumhouse and Universal Pictures.

The new feature is being directed and produced by Flanagan, whom you may remember as director of “Doctor Sleep” and “Gerald’s Game“, as well as creating acclaimed Netflix series like “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Midnight Mass“.

“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,” said Flanagan.

In 2021, Universal invested $400 million to acquire a new “Exorcist” trilogy from director David Gordon Green, who was also responsible for the 2018 horror film ‘Halloween’. Johansson’s participation is a clear indication that the studio is taking this latest version of the franchise seriously after the previous film.

The initial film, “The Exorcist: Believable,” opened in 2023 with negative reviews and a box office total of only $137 million. 

There had been meetings between the studio and a number of top-tier talent. Johansson appeared to be a perfect match after helping relaunch the Jurassic World franchise with Jurassic World: Rebirth, which earned close to $869 million worldwide last summer.

Earlier, Flanagan mentioned that the plan is to do something that has never been done in the franchise, something that honors what has come before but isn’t based on nostalgia. Flanagan has most recently been working on his “Carrie” series for Amazon MGM Studios with that project having wrapped filming last month.