A Release of the EXORCIST III Director’s Cut is Coming

The theatrical release of Exorcist III was a result of a lot of compromise and sacrifice of William Peter Blatty, the director of Exorcist III and the author of The Exorcist. With Morgan Creek stating that Blatty must put an exorcism in the film since they thought that is what general audiences would expect out of a film with the word “Exorcist” in the title. There were excised scenes and a completely different ending once the film hit theaters and Blatty has never been 100% happy with the film. While I love the theatrical version, I still would like to see the Director’s Cut of Exorcist III, or the closest we can get to it. It looks like that time is coming near.

For the past 3 months, Morgan Creek’s Twitter account has been vaguely dropping hints to “Stay tuned for more info…” when Twitter users keep asking them to put out William Peter Blatty’s version of Exorcist III. This has been a holy grail for me. I’m more of a fan of Exorcist III than I am of The Exorcist. Also, my hope for a release of Blatty’s version of Exorcist III: Legion was raised when Shout Factory worked with Warner Brothers to get the “lost” footage for Nightbreed. As you may know, Morgan Creek was involved with Clive Barker’s film and the reports that fans would get back for years was that the footage was “lost”. Then, it was miraculously found when Shout Factory was pushing forward with a restoration of VHS copies of the lost footage to combine into elements found from the theatrical version so they could stitch together a version that would be closer to Clive Barker’s version. The same “footage left on the cutting room floor was lost” excuse was being said for Exorcist III.

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Here are some of the responses from Morgan Creek via Twitter:

@andredursin Funny you should mention that! 😉

— Morgan Creek (@Morgan__Creek) September 28, 2015

@GMisdemeanours @KermodeMovie @WilliamFriedkin stay tuned for news about THAT !

— Morgan Creek (@Morgan__Creek) September 29, 2015

@sd_saurav @wpblatty Stay tuned for more info about this!

— Morgan Creek (@Morgan__Creek) September 30, 2015

Four days ago, on December 12th, Blatty fan site TheNinthConfiguration.com posted a brief or partial conversation with Blatty that gives us more substance on what Morgan Creek has been alluding to.

And as for the news most people have been salivating about: the Blu-ray re-release of The Exorcist III (LEGION), and the missing (supposedly “lost”) footage. All I can say is:

Me: Morgan Creek have been posting some rather cryptic things on their Twitter account with regards to a DVD special release. Can you shed any light on what they may be talking about?

Bill: They are planning a new Blu Ray of “my cut.”

Regarding HOW the missing footage was found, Bill has said that it’s not clear as yet.

Let’s hope this release comes in 2016 as we just missed the 25th anniversary of Exorcist III‘s release. Plus, I would love Blatty, who is soon to turn 88, to contribute a commentary to the new cut of the film.