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Never count Sylvester Stallone out.The 76-year-old actor, who rose to prominence in movies like “Rocky” and “First Blood,” has an uncanny knack for reinvention. And his latest career refresh begins today, with the release of “Samaritan,” a riff on the typical superhero story.

Russell Crowe makes a splash in the horror genre in The Pope’s Exorcist.Directed by Julius Avery, the supernatural horror film stars Crowe as real-life figure Father Gabriele Amorth, a Catholic priest who claimed to have performed thousands of exorcisms over his career.A synopsis reads: “The Pope’s Exorcist follows Amorth as he investigates a young boy’s terrifying possession and ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden.”Other cast members include Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe and Franco Nero.In the film’s final act, Amorth and Father Esquibel (Zovatto) discover the demon possessing young Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) is Asmodeus, the king of hell. The demon’s aim is to possess an exorcist, so that it can release other demons and take down the Church.During the exorcism of Henry, Amorth offers himself to be possessed by Asmodeus – falling in line with the demon’s plan.

The Pope’s Exorcist has become one of 2023’s unexpected box office hits.Directed by Julius Avery (Samaritan), the supernatural horror film stars Russell Crowe as real-life figure Father Gabriele Amorth, a Catholic priest who claimed to have performed thousands of exorcisms over his career.The film is based on Amorth’s books, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories released in 1990 and 1992 respectively. Other cast members include Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe and Franco Nero.As reported by Bloody Disgusting in April, early development on a sequel is believed to be underway.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points, including the ending for “The Pope’s Exorcist” currently playing in theaters. Director Julius Avery has “only seen parts” of William Friedkin’s classic “The Exorcist.” “I’m not a massive aficionado of exorcist movies,” he tells Variety. Yet despite that, his latest release, “The Pope’s Exorcist,” which is based on Gabriele Amorth’s books “An Exorcist Tells His Story” and “An Exorcist: More Stories,” follows the Vatican’s chief exorcist to Spain. Played by Russell Crowe, Father Amorth teams up with a priest, Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto), to investigate a young mother, Julia (Alex Essoe), and her children, who have recently become possessed by a powerful demon.

Five wide releases hit theaters this weekend, but Illumination and Universal’s Super Mario Bros. Movie will reign supreme with a second weekend, -60% of $58M. Already the plumbers have plunged a running stateside total through nine days of $260M, with $300M+ this weekend in sight.

Como se dice, “What the hell?”The priest, whose beard is mysteriously much whiter than his hair, is sent to the abbey by the pope — “Charlie’s Angels” style. The building was recently inherited by Julia (Alex Essoe) after the car-accident-impalement death of her husband.

It is hard to look at any movie with “Exorcist” in its title and not immediately think of William Friedkin’s eternal 1973 Oscar-winning horror classic that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Nevertheless there have been dozens of films of various stripes that have tried to conjure their own magic in this sub-genre, but none that have managed to surpass what Friedkin and screenwriter William Peter Blatty did with that brilliant film.

Guy Lodge Film Critic On the face of it, “The Pope’s Exorcist” would have you believe that it’s rooted in the real-life experiences of the late Father Gabriele Amorth, the Catholic priest who served for 30 years as the head exorcist of the Diocese of Rome. Its screenwriting credits proclaim as much, for starters, while a surfeit of onscreen dates and locations in the early going lend proceedings the faintest of docudrama veneers; moreover, the film is backed by the non-profit production arm of the Jesuit research university Loyola Marymount, with Loyola rector Father Edward J. Siebert among its executive producers. Even Catholics in high places, it turns out, have a sense of humor: You needn’t wait for the “work of fiction” disclaimer in the closing credits to discern that “The Pope’s Exorcist” is ripely fantastical trash, inspired by Amorth’s work in much the same way that SunnyD is inspired by Florida oranges, and no less enjoyable for those liberties. Rather than the Bible or any of Amorth’s autobiographies, Julius Avery’s film instead swears by the trusty story template shaped by every demonic-possession horror film since “The Exorcist” a full half-century ago, as a hapless American teen is inhabited by an ancient minion of Satan with increasingly yucky, upchucky consequences, while a venerable priest is called upon to clear up the mess.

Russell Crowe is back and he’s got some demons to battle.“The Pope’s Exorcist,” out in April, follows Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican (played by Crowe), as he takes on his most mysterious case yet – the possession of a young boy whose experience has ties to an ancient Vatican secret. And, yes, it looks pretty spooky.Amorth was a real person (he passed away in 2016), an exorcist for the Vatican who spoke openly about his work, authoring several books about exorcism and frequently offering his opinion on the subject.

Ever since “The Exorcist” terrified audiences decades ago, Hollywood has been obsessed with possession horror. The idea of a demon taking over the body of a helpless person is the perfect mix of realism with the supernatural that it has become a story told over and over again.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic There’s a standard road map for an actor like Sylvester Stallone — at 76, still looking good, but no longer with a body made of rock(y) — to enter the comic-book movie zone, and that’s for him to play a figure like the righteous Ravager Stakar Ogord in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” or to voice King Shark in “The Suicide Squad.” That’s all likable nostalgic novelty casting. But what if Stallone, who in his way has played invincible superheroes for decades (think “Rambo” and its sequels or “The Expendables” and its sequels), wants to go full avenger and portray a total comic-book demigod? He’ll star in a chintzy slice of hellfire like “Samaritan,” based on the Mythos Comics graphic novel that was published in 2014. It’s set in Granite City, an everyday dystopia where Stallone lugs his body around with a reluctant roughneck shamble. He plays an aging crime-fighter-in-hiding in a movie that as written by Bragi F. Schut (who also wrote the comic) and directed by Julius Avery offers a conventional but downbeat, minimally plotted but maximally incendiary variation on bare-bones superhero action.

EXCLUSIVE: Sylvester Stallone has signed with CAA.

EXCLUSIVE: Legendary Italian actor Franco Nero (Django) has been tapped to play the Pope in Screen Gems’ supernatural thriller The Pope’s Exorcist, with Laurel Marsden (Ms. Marvel), Cornell S. John (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) and newcomer Peter DeSouza-Feighoney also now set for the film from director Julius Avery. They join an ensemble led by Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, which also includes Alex Essoe and Daniel Zovatto, as previously announced.

EXCLUSIVE: Alex Essoe (Midnight Mass) and Daniel Zovatto (Station Eleven) will join Academy Award winner Russell Crowe in the Julius Avery-directed supernatural thriller The Pope’s Exorcist for Screen Gems.

Sony is pushing their Spider-Man family title Madame Web from July 7 to Oct. 6, 2023. That first weekend of October has been a gold mine for the Culver lot where they own the month’s second and third biggest openings with Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($90M) and Venom ($80.2M).

The Pope’s Exorcist.Directed by Julius Avery (Overlord), the film will star Crowe as real-life figure Father Gabriele Amorth, a priest who acted as chief exorcist of the Vatican and performed more than 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime.Amorth, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 91, detailed his experiences of battling demons in two memoirs titled An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories.“It’s been a goal of mine to work with Russell,” Avery said in a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter). “To collaborate with him on the amazing Pope’s Exorcist is truly a dream come true.”Production is scheduled to start in Ireland in September.Avery’s next film is Samaritan, a superhero film based on the Mythos Comics graphic novels by Bragi F.

Russell Crowe has consistently been one of the biggest film stars on the planet for nearly 25 years. And in recent years, the Oscar-winning actor has been choosing some really intriguing roles and is seemingly at the point in his career where he is ready to have fun.

Russell Crowe (Thor: Love and Thunder) has signed on to star in Julius Avery’s film The Pope’s Exorcist for Screen Gems, Deadline can confirm.

Angelique Jackson Ron Howard’s ripped-from-the-headlines drama “Thirteen Lives” has moved to August, with the film launching globally on Amazon’s Prime Video shortly after a limited theatrical release.Produced and directed by Ron Howard, the film follows the 2018 rescue mission of a Thai soccer team and their coach who were trapped in a system of flooding underground caves. The film’s cast is led by Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen and Joel Edgerton, with a script by William Nicholson.Previously dated for Nov.

EXCLUSIVE: After recently wrapping production on the highly-anticipated adaptation of the manga comic Bullet Train, Sony Pictures is eyeing another popular Japanese comic series adaptation as sources tell Deadline, Julius Avery has been set to direct Gantz for the studio. Based on the manga series written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku, the script will be adapted by Marc Guggenheim with Temple Hill producing.

20th Century Studios has been trying to get a new “Flash Gordon” movie in development years before the merger with Disney with directors such as Matthew Vaughn (“X-Men: First Class“) and Julius Avery (“Overlord“) attached at various points to bring a fresh incarnation of the pulp sci-fi hero after multiple incarnations over the years including the beloved/campy film from 1980 that featured a score and theme song from the British rock band, Queen.

We often make light of how Liam Neeson continues to do action films even though he’s 68-years-old. However, when you compare him to Sylvester Stallone, Neeson is positively youthful, as the “Rocky” actor will turn 75 this year.

Universal has remained committed to creating filmmaker-driven projects based on characters from the studio’s vast monsters legacy. That approach proved successful with Blumhouse and Leigh Whannell’s “The Invisible Man,” for which the studio decided not to push forward with the initial notion of an interconnected universe, and instead halted and reassessed.

Universal is dipping back into its classic horror mythos once again for a new potential franchise based on the legendary monster hunter, “Van Helsing.” And the studio reportedly knows exactly who is best to direct the new feature.

EXCLUSIVE: After relaunching its monster-movie library with the hit The Invisible Man, Universal Pictures is continuing to build up its development slate and has its sights on one of its more iconic non-monster characters. Sources tell Deadline that Universal is developing an original horror/thriller inspired by the studio’s classic monster legacy set in the world of Van Helsing, with Julius Avery (Overlord) directing and James Wan producing through his Atomic Monster banner.