The Pope's Exorcist 2 Will Bring Back Russell Crowe For More Demon-Hunting (And Scooting, Hopefully)
Russell Crowe will save souls and ride Lambrettas again: "The Pope's Exorcist" is officially getting a sequel! Producer Jeff Katz took to Twitter on Wednesday evening to announce the news, posting, "Amorth Nation — I just got the call...IT'S OFFICIALLY HAPPENING!!!" Katz followed up with an Italian phrase, "È un seguito, amici miei," which translates to "It's a sequel, my friends."
Never one to miss a chance to reference Crowe's character's motorized scooter (aren't we all?), Katz also wrote, "Thank you to the amazing #ThePopesExorcist fans. You made this happen. Gas up your Lambretta – and get ready to ride."
"The Pope's Exorcist" was both a slightly campy novelty and a surprise box office success when it dropped in April 2023, earning nearly $77 million worldwide against a comparatively slim budget of just $18 million (per Variety). The film blew past initial expectations — the Variety article cited above guessed it would earn $10 million in U.S. theaters, but it ultimately doubled that number — and continued to find a sizeable audience when it debuted on Netflix later in the year.
There's a whole cursed world out there for the Pope's Exorcist to explore
Whether or not "The Pope's Exorcist" is actually any good is up for debate. In his lukewarm review of the film, /Film's Chris Evangelista wrote, "Never scary, wholly derivative, and mercifully short, 'The Pope's Exorcist' is worth seeing for Crowe and Crowe alone." The film's zany plot, title, and details made up for what it lacked in quality: Crowe played the real personal exorcist to the Pope, a man named Father Gabriele Amorth, who in the film investigates a possession in Spain in the late '80s. Like most possession flicks, large chunks of the movie clearly borrow from the William Friedkin classic "The Exorcist," which did as much to establish a strong mythology around exorcism as the Church itself.
There are a few silly details that make "The Pope's Exorcist" fun, though, from Crowe's Italian accent to his power scooter to a climax that proposes a "Da Vinci Code"-style universe full of infiltrating demons and hidden holy relics. It's the scooter, of all things, that fans have latched onto, so much so that this isn't the first time Katz has mentioned it. Right after the film's release, the producer half-joked on Twitter that "should we be so fortunate as to make a second #ThePopesExorcist movie, it's fair to say that we will probably consider doing a chase scene with Amorth on the scooter, 'Jurassic Park' style. Budget permitting, that's a no-brainer."
We can't wait to see it.