It has been 15 years since Jason Voorhees graced the silver screen in 2009’s Friday the 13th remake. Since then, the franchise has been mired in complicated legal issues that have prevented much of anything from happening. Even A24’s much-anticipated Crystal Lake TV show ran into a major speed bump recently, losing showrunner Bryan Fuller. Recently, we got some more bad news from the director of the original slasher classic, Sean S. Cunningham, who says we shouldn’t expect a new movie in the series anytime soon.
Speaking during a panel at Texas Frightmare Weekend (via Creepy Catalog), Cunningham addressed the possibility of a new Friday the 13th movie saying that it is “at least three years” away. While the report is light on direct quotes, the outlet states that it doesn’t seem to have much to do with the legal issues (more on that in a moment) that have kept Jason locked up for years. Rather, it’s an economic issue.
“It sounds like Cunningham is confident that the legal side of the matter isn’t an issue. Instead, he said that the major obstacle holding back a new Friday the 13th film is the reluctance of a movie studio to risk putting money into a horror project that might not see a huge return on its investment.”
That, to my ears, sounds insane. Given how successful the recent Halloween and Scream movies have been, one assumes there is a fortune to be made with a new entry in this franchise. New Line Cinema, for what it’s worth, owns the trademark for the Friday the 13th title. Meanwhile, original screenwriter Victor Miller won a legal battle for the rights for his original script, while Horror Inc. and Cunninghman control the rights to the other films.
That’s a ridiculously truncated version of how complicated this has all become but, in short, the rights are a mess and lots of people would have to come together to make something happen. Producer Roy Lee made it sound like a new movie might be happening back in 2022, but that didn’t exactly pan out. Meanwhile, A24 has been working on Crystal Lake, but Fuller’s exit has left the project on uncertain ground. In the meantime, Horror Inc. recently launched the Jason Universe, which will include “entertainment, games, immersive experiences, merchandise and more,” just no movies or TV shows.
To that end, Cunningham also confirmed during the panel that a new Friday the 13th game is in the works, which had originally been reported last summer. No further details were revealed but that seems to fall under the umbrella of what Jason Universe is trying to accomplish. So we won’t be totally absent of Jason Voorhees in the coming years, it just won’t be on the silver screen, barring an unforeseen change.
The Crystal Lake TV series remains without a release date. For more, check out our list of the best kills in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.
