The curse of “The Exorcist” hasn’t extended to the box office but the road to getting 'Exorcist: The Beginning' on screen was anything but simple. The film took home the number one box office spot and $18 million despite universally bad reviews.

The prequel has been in the works for years. The first director died, the second director was fired and its third director was struck by a car. It was scrapped and remade with an entirely new cast.

Renny Harlin, the director of the prequel, says it was no joke. He was hit by a car during production. 'I wouldn't say that I'm very superstitious. But I believe in good and evil, and you have to be careful with those things.”

The original 'The Exorcist' is the spooky 1970s classic starring Linda Blair as a demon-possessed little girl. The two priests hired to exorcise the demon are Father Karras, who is losing his faith, and the aging Father Merrin. The movie was a shocker for its time and garnered 10 Academy Award nominations (although it only won for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound). The success of the movie spawned two tepid sequels, 'Exorcist II: The Heretic' in 1977 with Richard Burton, and 'The Exorcist III' in 1990 with George C. Scott.

Plans for the fourth installment began in 2001. The script planned to be a prequel focusing on an earlier spiritual battle between Father Merrin (played by Max von Sydow in the original movie) and the demon in the original Exorcist movie. The movie was originally written by 'Terminator 2' co-screenwriter William Wisher Jr. and rewritten by acclaimed historical author Caleb Carr. John Frankenheimer was set to direct and Liam Neeson was cast as the young Merrin. Frankenheimer backed out of the film in June 2002 and later died due to complications from back surgery. Neeson quit the movie due to delays.

Next, Paul Schrader, the screenwriter of 'Taxi Driver' and 'Raging Bull' and director of 'Affliction' took over as director and Stellan Skarsgard, whose credits include 'Good Will Hunting' and 'Passion of Mind,' signed on for the Merrin role. Filming began in Morocco in late November 2002.

The script by Carr and Wisher was more spooky than frightening, according to Schrader. 'Carr had fashioned an African boy who was afflicted, who was deformed and became possessed, and as he was progressively possessed became perfected,' Schrader said. 'I liked that idea, but it did effectively remove the engine from the horror vehicle. You no longer had a poor pathetic thing being tortured.'

When Schrader presented his final cut of the movie to Morgan Creek Productions they decided that they wanted the film to be a more traditional horror film. Schrader was fired. The production company didn’t want to release the movie and instead decided to find a director to shoot new scenes to make it scarier. Enter Renny Harlin, the director of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master,' who proposed to reshoot Schrader's entire movie and revise the plot. This decision boosted the cost of the film from the $35 million that Schrader had already spent to more than $90 million. Harlin replaced many actors but kept Skarsgard on board as Merrin.

Shortly after beginning the movie, Harlin was struck by a car and his leg was crushed. He shoot the movie on crutches. The movie was not screened for critics until the day before it was released. This is a common practice when a studio knows a movie will get panned. But harsh reviews did not manage to keep curious fans away. Following on the heels off another long-awaited movie, “Alien versus Predator.” the Exorcist movie brought in a solid showing. Time will tell whether the movie has enough legs to justify its budget.