 Authorities in Washington invoked a municipal ordinance that would have prevented "any" minors from seeing the film, threatening theater owners with arrest if they did.<ref name="Meacham NYT piece"></ref>

Meacham insinuated that the board had succumbed to pressure from Warner Brothers, which had spent $10 million, more than twice its original budget, making the film; an X rating would have seriously limited "The Exorcist"s commercial prospects.