Blumhouse Wants To Reboot Friday The 13th

Though they started out as releasing countless originals, Blumhouse Productions has become a go-to place for rebooting horror movie franchises. The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Black Christmas, Halloween, The Invisible Man, and now The Craft, almost nothing seems off limits for them and they remain on the hunt for more properties to bring to the big screen. Speaking in an interview with Cine Pop, Blumhouse head Jason Blum was asked what property he’d next like to reboot and he had a quick answer, echoing previous sentiments, saying: “I’d love to do Friday the 13th. I’d do it as a movie.”

Blum was previously asked about making a new movie by a fan via Fandom to which he replied, “I have the same question! I don’t have an answer to that. But like I’ve said before, I would love to do it and it’s very complicated, but I hope someday. How about that? It’s not the answer I want to hear because I wish it was right away, but it isn’t.”

Unlike the other properties that have been rebooted by Blumhouse, things are complicated for the Friday the 13th series. An ongoing legal battles surrounding the franchise continues, making its future on the big screen an uncertainty.

For a quick primer on the franchise’s legal woes: Filmmaker Sean S. Cunningham directed the first film in the series and hired screenwriter Victor Miller to write a script to fit the title “Friday the 13th” in order to capitalize on the slasher movie craze of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The franchise became a major success, with Miller attempting to seek more ownership over the series in recent years due to his contributions and thanks to citing an obscure copyright law was able to win the first court battle.

What makes the legal battle confusing is that, while the series is known for the hockey mask-wearing Jason Voorhees, that image wasn’t introduced until the third film. If an agreement can’t be made between the two parties, it’s possible a new Friday the 13th would have to abandon the iconic murderer, or that a film focusing on Voorhees wouldn’t be able to use the famous franchise title. It’s unclear at this stage where the court fight over Jason and Camp Crystal Lake will go next, but it seems really unlikely that a new movie will arrive on the big screen any time soon.

The last entry in the long running slasher series debuted in 2009 in the form of a remake, while the ’80s saw a staggering eight entries into the series, making the franchise a defining part of the decade’s slasher craze. Ironically the gap in new movies for the series has resulted in the Halloween series catching up to and now set to surpass it, reaching the milestone of its 13th movie with Halloween Ends in 2022.