Thanksgiving Director Eli Roth Hopes His Slasher Will Launch a Franchise (Exclusive)

Eli Roth's Thanksgiving has been in the making for quite a long time. It started as a trailer for a nonexistent movie that was included in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse double featured way back in 2007. Roth and co-wrtier Jeff Rendell had the idea since they were younger, and that initial trailer got fans everywhere begging to see the full movie someday. That day has finally arrived, 16 years after that trailer, as Thanksgiving is being released in theaters everywhere. Hopefully, this long-awaited debut is just the start of a new slasher franchise.

Without spoiling anything about the film itself, Thanksgiving does leave enough meat on the bone to fuel a sequel, though whether or not a sequel actually happens will likely depend on how many people head out to see it. ComicBook.com spoke to Eli Roth ahead of Thanksgiving's theatrical debut and asked the filmmaker about his hopes for sequels or a full franchise. 

"Well, we didn't really think too much beyond this movie, but as we were shooting, you start joking around going, 'Oh yeah, we could do a movie set there, we could do this, we could do that. The Thanksgivingverse'" Roth told us. "I mean, it's completely up to the fans. But we had such a great time making it and the more you think about it, the more ideas you get. And working with this cast, which is a dream cast, the cast of a lifetime, and reuniting with Milan [Chadima] my DP from Hostel and Hostel II and the original [Thanksgiving] trailer. We were like, we don't want to stop. It was one of those shoots. It was so fast, when the shoot ended, we were really sad it was over. We thought, 'Okay, how can we get back to this?' So if the movie does well, I'd love to continue it."

With a modest budget (reportedly around $15 million), it's easy to envision Thanksgiving making enough money to warrant the sequel treatment, especially with the glowing reviews the film has received. Should that sequel happen, it'll be interesting to see what kind of story it follows. It would make sense to see another Turkey Day slasher but, ss Roth mentioned, perhaps another holiday could come into play.

Thanksgiving stars Patrick Dempsey, Rick Hoffman, Nell Verlaque, Milo Manheim, Addison Rae, Caren Cliche, Shailyn Griffen, Jenna Warren, Mike Amonsen, Gabriel Davenport, Jalen Thomas Brooks, and Gina Gershon. The film is now playing in theaters.