The bad news for Jason Voorhees and Friday the 13th fans just keeps on coming. It’s been a rollercoaster last month for the franchise. The Peacock and A24 prequel series Crystal Lake recently lost its showrunner, Bryan Fuller, but the newly formed “Jason Universe” from original series writer Victor Miller and Horror Inc. gave us some much-needed hope for the franchise’s long-awaited return. However, now it appears we’re going to have to wait a while longer for the slasher franchise to return to the big screen. Grab some tissues and light a fire at Camp Crystal Lake, because slasher fans are “at least three years away” from the next Friday the 13th film.
Originally reported by Creepy Catalog, this is what franchise producer Sean S. Cunningham said during a panel at Texas Frightmare Weekend. The panel reunited Cunningham with Friday the 13th star Adrienne King, who was set to have a role in Crystal Lake before the showrunner shuffle, and make-up legend Tom Savini, who lened his talents to the first film. He was also said to be involved in Crystal Lake before Fuller’s departure. Given Cunningham’s presence, there were bound to be questions from fans about the current state of the next Friday the 13th film and that’s when the producer revealed the disappointing news. It sounds like Cunningham‘s recent legal rights battle over Friday the 13th with Miller isn’t the cause of any delay. The producer would explain this has more to do with movie studios not wanting to “risk putting money into a horror project that might not see a huge return on its investment”. With the current state of the movie studios, it wouldn’t be hard to believe if this was any other genre. However, post-pandemic, horror has been arguably the most profitable genre. Films like M3GAN, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and Evil Dead Rise are just a few examples. However, when it comes to slasher revivals, the last two Scream films and Halloween have proven that classic horror franchises can still make a ton of money in the modern landscape. Just last year, Cunningham said he was in the early stages of the next Friday the 13th film, so it’s only a matter of time until we hear news of a studio taking a chance on the franchise.
Jason Voorhees Can’t Catch a Break
While Friday the 13th dominated with eight films throughout the 80s, Jason Voorhees has hit more than a few snags in the last three decades. After his epic showdown with Freddy Krueger in Freddy vs. Jason, the character has only had one film, the 2009 remake, in the last 20 years. Jason was featured as a character in Mortal Kombat X and had a very successful game of his own in 2017, but the previously mentioned lawsuit made that game’s life short-lived. Now that this rights dispute is over, Crystal Lake was supposed to be the franchise’s major return, debuting on Peacock later this year. Yet this seems unlikely now, given the series remains without a showrunner. As it stands, “Jason Universe” is Friday the 13th’s only hope at the moment. However, there’s a big asterisk to that. It will only cover Jason’s appearances in video games, TV shows, and merchandise. This new expansion doesn’t include film.
Where is ‘Friday the 13th’ Streaming?
The first eight Friday the 13th films are currently streaming on Max. While depressed horror fans continue to wait for their big screen return to Crystal Lake, Jason will next be seen as a playable character in MultiVersus.
via Collider