Blumhouse Hopes to Revive Dark Universe, ‘Friday the 13th,’ and More

The First Purge and Halloween producer Jason Blum hopes to raise iconic slasher franchise Friday the 13th from the grave and is open to resurrecting Universal Pictures’ mostly-abandoned Dark Universe.

Blumhouse President Jason Blum participated in a Twitter Q&A Thursday and fielded questions from horror hounds who inquired about Blumhouse taking on other iconic and valuable properties like The Crow and Scream following its revival of the long-running Halloween franchise, which hasn’t seen a new installment since Rob Zombie’s reboot sequel in 2009.

After cultivating original franchises Paranormal Activity and Insidious, Blum launched the ongoing Purge series and helped transform M. Night Shyamalan’s 2000 drama Unbreakable into a franchise with Split and the upcoming Glass.

Blumhouse, who wields a first-look deal with Universal, is then poised to delve into the studio’s planned Dark Universe — a connected horror universe that would act as Universal’s spin on Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe or Warner Bros.’ DCEU. That franchise was supposed to launch with the Tom Cruise-led The Mummy, an action-centric take on the 1932 horror, but plans stalled after the film disappointed with just $409 million earned worldwide.

A modern-set reboot of the famed Universal Monsters, the studio readied a shared universe that introduced Cruise as Nick Morton as a supernaturally-powered adventurer, Sofia Boutella as the Mummy, and Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The studio tapped Javier Bardem for Frankenstein’s monster and Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man, two standalone projects that may never materialize. Bardem could debut as the twisted creature in Bride of Frankenstein, a project that may gain traction under director Bill Condon (2017’s Beauty and the Beast) with Angelina Jolie attached to star as the titular character.

Asked by Twitter user Ricky Barrett about the chances of “getting the rights to other big horror franchises” following the acquisition of Halloween, Blum said chances are “excellent.”

Blum “for sure” would try his hand at hockey mask-sporting murderer Jason Voorhees and the Friday the 13th franchise, adding he’s “tried a bunch of times to get the rights.” He’s made a similar effort for The Crow and said he’s open to bringing Wes Craven’s Scream franchise back to the big screen once its TV counterpart concludes its run.

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Halloween opens October 19.