'Exorcist' Sequel's Slow Box Office Start After Huge Studio Investment

The new 'Exorcist' movie isn't raking in as much dough as its parent studio would like -- which isn't great news considering almost half a billion dollars was spent to get it going.

Here's the deal ... the first-day box office numbers for David Gordon Green's 'Exorcist: Believer' are in -- and they're underwhelming to say the least ... just $11.9 million from Friday's haul, which includes about $2.8 million in Thursday previews.

At this pace, the projection for the 3-day weekend is about $28 million domestically ... which is lower than what the initial estimates had this horror flick making, about $30-$35 million.

Of course, when the Taylor Swift movie comes out next week ... it's almost sure to wipe 'Exorcist: Believer' completely off the map -- so, big picture, this latest installment/reboot doesn't appear to be on track for major gains ... and that's troubling for Universal.

The reason ... the studio spent a fortune to attain the rights to the 'Exorcist' franchise -- upwards of $400 million -- and they're planning on cranking out 2 more sequels after this. Despite poor reviews and an underwhelming box office, you can bet they're gonna chug right along and crap those out in the next few years -- they spent way too much $$$ not to.