Killer Klowns From Outer Space Co-Creator Offers Update on Franchise’s Future

In 1988, the Chiodo Brothers unleashed Killer Klowns from Outer Space into the world and, decades later, the film continues to increase in popularity and leave fans to wonder if we could ever get another installment. While the filmmakers have regularly expressed their interest in continuing the series in some capacity, no official plans have emerged, with Edwards Chiodo confirming that there is still interest from studio MGM to continue the series in some capacity, with the current coronavirus pandemic currently stagnated talks about the franchise. Chiodo also expressed that, while it’s possible that the series could earn more films, he’d personally be interested in seeing the narrative continue with a TV series.

“There’s been ongoing talk with MGM, they are keen on doing something with it, not only because of the constant sales of the DVDs and Blu-rays, the merchandising … the new IT series that came out validated the love and fear of clowns and MGM realized they are sitting on the granddaddy of them all, in terms of the genre,” Chiodo shared with ComicBook.com. “But it’s really finding the right place, the right tone. What does a Killer Klowns from Outer Space movie look like in 2020? There’s a certain innocence that happened in 1987 where clowns were more universally loved than they are today, perhaps.”

He continued, “We’ve been in conversations on, really, all fronts. From a television series, which, personally, is one of the more exciting versions, because it gives us an opportunity to fully realize our ‘Trilogy in Four Parts’ concept. We follow new characters and some old characters over a really fun character arc that could be executed, we think, best in an hour-long TV format, but could also be adapted for a series of feature-length films to play out that scenario. So those are the types of ideas we’re working with. We’re really just working with MGM on a way to make that happen. They’re eager to make something happen. I can’t say anything is active right now, especially in light of what’s going on with the [coronavirus pandemic], but we’re scheduled to have some conversations with them when we get through our projects right now. There’s always a willingness on it. We’re looking for new collaborators, perhaps. Maybe bring us a new perspective on what it could be like in 2020.”

One of the last reports about the franchise emerged last year when the Walt Disney Company acquired 20th Century Fox, with unconfirmed rumors claiming that the deal somehow impacted a Killer Klowns sequel. Chiodo confirmed that these rumors were unsubstantiated and that deal had nothing to do with the franchise.

“The one thing I can definitely put to rest is this idea that it was somehow caught up in the Fox/Disney acquisition,” the filmmaker clarified. “As far as I know, I don’t know officially, but I have it on pretty good authority that the Klown franchise was not swept up in that. MGM controls the rights on it. We’ve been in contact with them … we have friends over there, we have people that we’ve been working with, bouncing ideas off of one another over time. I don’t know where that one came from, it was odd, but, as far as I know, it was not swept up in that deal.”

He added, “The only possible link is, for a very short period of time when MGM was letting Sony do the video distribution, there was a Fox tie-in, so, maybe for a very brief period of time, Fox had some sort of link to the home video rights as a distributor. But, as far as I know, that’s not the case. Right now, MGM has been a very good home for it. They get it, the people that are running the creative, the merchandising people certainly dig it, so it’s in a good place right now. We’re hoping something happens with it, we’re hoping we’re a part of it, and there will be more Klowns at some point. It would be fun to revisit it, but I’m content with where it is right now, too.”

Stay tuned for details on the possible future of the Killer Klowns from Outer Space series.

How would you like to see the series continue? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!