Happy Death Day Director Addresses the Franchise’s Possible Future

Fans have come to expect post-credits scenes that tease a series’ future in the realm of cinematic blockbusters, while the mid-credits scene in this year’s Happy Death Day 2U took many horror fans by surprise. The original film in the franchise became both a financial and critical success, and while this year’s sequel earned similarly positive reviews, the box office performance wasn’t quite as strong. Both writer/director Christopher Landon and producer Jason Blum have made it clear that the theatrical outlook for the franchise is grim, though Landon confirmed that fans will eventually learn about the series’ future, even if the form of that future has yet to be decided.

“I had a fair amount of detail for the third movie as well, though I did not write a script,” Landon confirmed to ComicBook.com. “I have an outline for that third movie, but I did not bother writing the script just because, A) I was making the second movie and B) I didn’t want to assume that like, ‘Oh, I’m going to make a third movie.’ And my assumption was pretty correct.”

He continued, “It was surprising, but, to some degree, I think I would have been a lot more upset if I had written the third movie completely and then didn’t have the opportunity to make it.”

It was confirmed earlier this month that Landon was working on another project for Blumhouse, igniting speculation that this could secretly be the third film in the series. Landon confirmed that the third chapter in the series will be revealed eventually, but this new project isn’t it and neither he nor Blum would intentionally mislead fans about the series’ future.

“It will be revealed,” the filmmaker said about the franchise’s plans. “Jason and I didn’t want to, we’re not those people that want to dick people around and pretend like, ‘Oh, we’re actually making it guys, hehe, we’re just telling you we’re not.’ No, that’s not what’s happening. We’re making a different movie together. I’m super excited about it, but it’s not Happy Death Day 3.”

Between the changing landscape of media and the ways in which fans have expressed their enthusiasm, there are all sorts of ways in which the series can continue, even if those plans are unclear at this point.

“I can’t look into any sort of crystal ball and see what form the third movie will ultimately take,” Landon confessed. “And I know [star] Jessica Rothe feels this way, too, because we’ve talked about it. It’s been very comforting to know that there are a lot of people out there who appreciated the second film and really wanted to see where we were going. We clearly stated at the end of the second movie, we have a direction, we’re going somewhere with this. And so I don’t know what form it’s gonna take, but I will definitely tell that story somehow. If people thought the second movie was batshit, then they’re not ready for the third story. Because it goes so much more crazy, but in such a fun way. So I’ll get it out there somehow.”

Landon went on to note that, if there is a quality story to tell and fans express their enthusiasm, these stories find their audiences and find their paths to success, regardless of how long that takes.

“I always go back to this, because it’s sort of like a salve on my brain, but I always look at John Wick,” the filmmaker pointed out. “John Wick was a movie that came out and it was an underwhelming [box office] performance for an unbelievably fucking cool movie. And it just eventually found its audience and then obviously they’ve just gotten bigger and more successful as they continue. So I never say never with this stuff, which is partly why, in interviews, I never just decide to tell people what the third movie was about because I’ve always held out some shred of hope that maybe I’ll actually get to tell it.”

Stay tuned for details on Landon’s next movie with Blumhouse and the fate of the Happy Death Day franchise.

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