Terrifier 3 Officially on the Way With Returning Director and Bigger Budget

Like its antagonist Art the Clown, the Terrifier franchise continues to live on. Wednesday, it was revealed a third film in the franchise is officially in the works with The Coven kicking off global sales on the threequel. Franchise creator Damien Leone is expected to return and direct the third film, which will also be produced by Phil Falcone.

After finding sizable box office success with Terrifier 2—earning more than $15 million worldwide against a meager $250,000 budget—it's said Terrifier 3 is getting a good chunk of money this time around. In the initial reporting from Deadline, it's said the threequel will have a budget in the low-to-mid seven-figure range or, at least four times the budget of Terrifier 2. Little is known of the project other than Art (David Howard Thornton) and Lauren LaVera (Sienna Shaw) will return to the project.

"Terrifier 3 will be another boundary pushing addition to the horror genre, continuing the no holds barred, uncompromising exploits fans of the franchise have come to expect and celebrate. If you thought Art the Clown's reign of terror in part 2 was extreme, you haven't seen anything yet," Leone told the trade.

It's not the first time Leone teased the look and feel of a third film in the franchise. Last year the filmmaker said he's hoping to make Terrifier 3 "spookier" than anything the franchise has released yet. "One of my main goals for Terrifier 3 is to recapture the creep factor present in the original Terrifier short film. That had a genuinely spooky atmosphere that I'm still proud of. If all goes as planned, part 3 will be the scariest Terrifier thus far," Leone tweeted.

Even then, he took to a different interview to say the film would continue to flesh out the lore of Art the Clown. "There are so many questions brought up in 'Part 2' that are not answered, and that was part of the design because I know I'm going into a 'Part 3,'" Leone told Variety last year. "I pretty much have the entire treatment ready for ' Part 3,' but it's getting so big that it could potentially split into a ' Part 4' because I wouldn't want to make another 2 hour 20 minute movie. So we'll see."

Terrifier is streaming on Peacock and Tubi while Terrifier 2 can be seen on Prime Video.