Longlegs Director Has Bad News About His Texas Chainsaw Massacre Reboot

Earlier this year, it was revealed that the rights for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise were up for grabs, with many studios bidding to try to retain them for a reboot. In March, it was revealed that actor Glen Powell was interested in the rights to the franchise, as was horror director Andy Muschietti. At the time, it was thought that many studios were tossing their hat into the mix to try and retain the rights and work on a reboot of the legendary horror franchise. One of the many parties interested in acquiring the rights happened to be the studio Neon, which was looking to work with director Osgood Perkins on another film after both Longlegs and The Monkey performed well for the studio. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that is happening – at least not according to our interview with Perkins.

While on hand to promote his latest project, The Keeper, at San Diego Comic-Con, Perkins briefly spoke to ComicBook regarding the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot, and Perkins isn’t entirely sure where the project stands. “The reality is that we did put our best foot forward with that, along with a lot of folks. I actually don’t know where it stands at this point,” he explained. “We would have been very excited to do that. We definitely threw in. Honestly, I don’t know what is happening with it. But we did go forward — Neon and I — did put ourselves forward in a way that we felt very excited about and really wanted to do something that was as charming as the original.”

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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein, a Wisconsin-based serial killer and grave robber. The first movie was released in October 1974 and took in an impressive $30.85 million domestically, and another $38,754 internationally for a total of $30.9 million worldwide. A feat made all the more impressive given the film’s modest budget of $140,000. The horror flick would go on to spawn a long-running franchise that continues to instill fear among movie audiences.

The rights to the long-running franchise are reportedly being shopped around by the independent talent agency Verve, who represent rights holders Exurbia Films, who took over ownership of the Texas Chainsaw franchise in 2017. Along with Neon and Perkins, A24 and Lionsgate were said to be interested in trying to purchase the rights to the franchise. At the time, it was said that the agency had not actually approached any filmmakers, producers or buyers. Rather, the agency was having interested parties present packages to them for the rights.

Since then, it would appear Perkins and Neon did just that, but have not heard back from Verve. It’s unclear if the rights have been sold yet, but one can hope the agency makes the right choice when picking the buyer for the franchise. For now, fans of Perkins can check out his next movie starring She-Hulk: Attorney at Law star Tatiana Maslany, when it hits theaters this November. Until then, they can also stream Longlegs on Hulu, or they can rent The Monkey on Apple TV or Prime Video.