Last year’s Halloween sequel proved to be one of the most effective horror efforts of the year, earning not only big numbers at the box office, but also earning some of the series’ strongest reviews. Fans expected the announcement of a follow-up adventure ever since the film landed in theaters, thanks to the film’s successes and the open-ended nature of the its finale. After months of speculation, original director and co-writer John Carpenter took to Twitter to confirm that two sequels were on the way, the first of which opens on October 16, 2020 while the second opens on October 15, 2021. The teaser also confirmed the titles Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.
Many fans noted that one of the biggest strengths of last year’s sequel was the return of original star Jamie Lee Curtis, reprising her role as Laurie Strode for the fifth time in the franchise, the first since 2002’s Halloween: Resurrection. Not only did Curtis return, but so did Carpenter, serving as a producer and the film’s composer.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Producer Jason Blum took to Twitter to confirm that Curtis and Carpenter would be returning for the films, as well as director David Gordon Green and co-writer Danny McBride.
The “Halloween Ends” title could be exciting or disappointing news to audiences. One of the frustrations of fans over the years is that the series became so redundant, making each “death” of Michael Myers feel shallow. Much like earlier entries in the series, last year’s film failed to confirm the character’s actual death, though Halloween Ends is a much more ominous title. Additionally, knowing that we have two sequels on the way alters our expectations for Halloween Kills, as it won’t attempt to convince us that Myers’ reign of terror has ended.
The announcement of two sequels falls in line with the filmmakers’ original plans to make a trilogy, which they held off on as to witness the potential success of their first entry.
“We were going to shoot two of them back to back,” co-writer Danny McBride revealed to Entertainment Weekly last year. “Then we were like, ‘Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This could come out, and everyone could hate us, and we’d never work again. So, let’s not have to sit around for a year while we wait for another movie to come out that we know people aren’t going to like.’ So, we were like, ‘Let’s learn from this, and see what works, and what doesn’t.’ But we definitely have an idea of where we would go [with] this branch of the story and hopefully we get a chance to do it.”
Halloween Kills lands in theaters on October 16, 2020 and Halloween Ends lands in theaters on October 15, 2021.
Does this news have you excited? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!
