Is there a modern movie that has been as iconic as this?

IT? No way, mainly lame jump-scares.

Yes "The Blair Witch Project" might be the only one. It also spawned tons of copycats that were influenced. It also, just like The Exorcist, created intense fear in its original screenings. I went to a sneak preview that was free, without any knowledge about what it was.

Same movie I was gonna say. I was only thinking on terms of horror movies as a reply, not movies in general, and the hype, the marketing and then the movie itself (love or hate it) was really something in the world of horror.

The Sixth Sense is close... weird that even though the internet was in it's infancy people still respected movies and the twist ending wasn't ruined... for several weeks it remained at the top of the box office, even increasing week-to-week... something that perhaps will never happen again for a wide release movie.

The Ring even though I loved it was not as successful as The Exorcist nor The Sixth Sense.

I guess it depends on the real weight of "iconic." Maybe Lord of the Rings might have that kind of staying power. For me the best single film of the past 20 years has been There Will Be Blood but I don't think it has the staying power because of what audiences are like today. It's a great film tho.

To be honest, I think modern movies are too desensitized for any horror or thriller to make the same impact, at least on a zeitgeist level. I can think of great horror movies made in the last 20 years (Hereditary, The Witch, etc.), but the last one to really freak people out Exorcist style was The Blair Witch Project in 1999.

As for any movie regardless of genre, say what you will of their quality, but the MCU are probably the most iconic films of the 2010s at least for a mass audience.

I've never even heard of "Stranger Things" until you mentioned it. That pretty much cancels it as a contender.

I was going to say "Jaws" as well. It certainly did. But the religious overtones of "The Exorcist" gave it a grimmer depth.