Netflix Is Adding a Legendary Horror Movie in February

Netflix is bringing some horror to the cold days of February. The streamer will be adding William Fiedkin’s iconic 1973 horror movie The Exorcist at the start of the new month. It is one of several Warner Bros. movies hitting Netflix in February, including The Last Samurai, The Hangover, and The Dark Knight.

The Exorcist will be added to Netflix on Tuesday, Feb. 1. Other movies joining that day include Batman Begins, The Book of Eli, the two Caddyshack movies, the first two Despicable Me films, The New Guy, Watchmen, Warrior, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Netflix also has a handful of original programming hitting the service that day as well, including the movie My Best Friend Anne Frank.

The new shows could help Netflix subscribers handle the new price increase. Last week, the streamer announced plans to increase monthly subscription prices by as much as $2 in the U.S., depending on the plan. The standard plan jumped from $13.99 to $15.49. The premium plan jumped by $2 to $19.99 per month.

The Exorcist is one of the most critically acclaimed horror films of all time, and is based on William Peter Blatty’s novel about a mother hiring an exorcist to save her daughter from demonic possession. It was the first horror film nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. The film won Oscars for Blatty’s screenplay and for Best Sound.

Like many other popular horror movies, The Exorcist spawned a franchise. The first sequel was Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), although Blatty’s The Ninth Configuration (1980) is considered the first direct sequel to the 1973 film. Blatty also directed The Exorcist III (1990). Two prequels, Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005) were also released. Fox also aired a two-season follow-up to the original film, simply titled The Exorcist, which ran from 2016 to 2017.

In 2020, Morgan Creek Entertainment announced plans to reboot the series, and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions later joined the project. David Gordon Green (Halloween) was hired to direct at least the first movie in a planned trilogy. The movies will feature Ellen Burstyn reprising her role from the original film. Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton, Murder on the Orient Express) will also star. Universal Pictures signed on to distribute and they plan to release the first film on Oct. 13, 2023. The second and third films will potentially be exclusive to the Peacock streaming platform.