Original Friday the 13th Director Developing New Franchise Reboot

By Spencer Perry

The tangled legal web that is the Friday the 13th franchise has now resulted in another new announcement with franchise producer Sean S. Cunningham working on a reboot of the series of his own. As readers may recall, a court case previously made it seem unlikely that a new movie could get made after the rights to the original script reverted to the screenwriter, putting nearly every element of the franchise in limbo. That changed after Bryan Fuller and A24 teamed up for a Crystal Lake prequel TV show, and now Cunningham is preparing a movie of his own as well.

Bloody Disgusting brings the news to us, revealing that screenwriter Jeff Locker confirmed they're developing a new movie in the Friday the 13th film franchise. Locker, currently working on The Night Driver for Cunningham's production comapny, noted that he and director Jeremy Weiss pitched a "dream reboot of Friday the 13th" and have started developing it with the blessing of Cunningham. The legal hurdles do still exist though, one that would require a deal with screenwriter Victor Miller, but according to Locker there's a plan in place in case a deal can't be reached.

"Obviously, the prequel TV series (Crystal Lake) has reignited interest about a new film," Locker said. "So we're hoping the surrounding excitement will inspire both sides to come together and give us Jason on the big screen again for the first time in 14 years, but we also have a Plan B for a sequel to the original we think fans will absolutely love and should avoid any legal entanglements."

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The short story on the Friday the 13th franchise's legal status is that original screenwriter Victor Miller was awarded the rights to the first movie's script after a lengthy copyright termination case. As a result Miller is allowed to develop projects based on and rooted in that script, but considering the different routes that the franchise took after his involvement (Jason as a giant killing machine, the hockey mask, going to space, etc), it's unclear from a public perspective who owns what between Miller and Cunningham.

In a previous interview Bryan Fuller teased that the Crystal Lake TV show had the rights to include every piece of the franchise within the TV show. Considering the TV show appears to have everything it wants from the franchise, and may not be keen on making a deal, we'll see if this latest announcement of a new Friday the 13th movie makes any movement forward.

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