Friday the 13th Legal Battle Heading Back to Court Soon

The Friday the 13th franchise is one of the most well-known in the world of horror, but a series of legal disputes over the rights to various components of the franchise has prevented a new film from moving forward, with original director Sean S. Cunningham and original writer Victor Miller heading back to court on February 13th in hopes of coming to a resolution. Back in the late ’70s, Cunningham came up with the film’s title and hired Miller to write a script, with the court previously siding with Miller when it comes to who owns the rights to the original script.

“Mark Your Calendar! The 2nd Circuit has scheduled oral arguments in Horror Inc. v. Miller (the Friday the 13th case) for February 13 at 10:00 AM,” attorney Larry Zerner shared on Twitter, who starred in Friday the 13th Part III. “Each side will have 12 minutes to argue. I will provide analysis as soon as the Court posts the recording of the hearing.”

While this news is promising that there will be some sort of progress on the franchise, fans shouldn’t get their hopes up quite yet.

In the first film, Jason Voorhees only appears as a young boy, as his mother is the one responsible for murdering camp counselors in an act of retribution against those who were too distracted with drugs and sex to notice that her son was drowning. Jason didn’t become the killer until the sequel and he didn’t earn his mask until the third film.

It’s possible that there could be an outcome where films could move forward with the “Friday the 13th” title but couldn’t utilize the mask-wearing murderer, or that the iconic slasher could be used in a future film, but without the “Friday the 13th” name. In 2003, fans were given the crossover Freddy vs. Jason, seeing the killer go up against A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Freddy Krueger, proving that a film doesn’t need the title to be a hit, but fans would ideally like to see the title and character reunited.

Stay tuned for details on the future of the Friday the 13th franchise.

Do you think we’ll see any advancements in the franchise in the near future? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!