Friday the 13th fans are hopeful for new films in the series to be in the works, following the conclusion of the lawsuit over the rights to the original film. This legal war is what has been holding up production on a new Jason movie, and a judge finally making a ruling is certainly progress. It’s unclear what exactly we can expect next, but Friday the 13th producers Horror Inc. are already teasing more projects featuring the adult, hockey-masked version of Jason not shown in the original movie.
Going by Horror Inc’s response to the lawsuit outcome, the producers seem confident they’ll be able to announce some new projects involving Jason Voorhees soon. Is it really that easy? Can Horror Inc. simply go ahead and make another film, so as long as they don’t refer to any of the elements shown in the 1980 original? Well, if you ask Friday the 13th Part 3‘s Larry Zerner, it isn’t quite that simple.
After reading the available information from the case, Lerner has offered a lengthy breakdown of what this all means on his Twitter account. As the actor has gone on to become an entertainment lawyer, he has a good understanding of how these things work, and the bottom line seems to be that we won’t be seeing another Friday the 13th film unless both Horror Inc. and Victor Miller can put these differences aside and just work out some kind of deal.
From Zerner’s Twitter:
So, what happens next? Horror could appeal, but that will be at least 2 and more likely 3-4 years of waiting for a resolution. Also, IMHO, the chance of Horror winning on appeal is poor. If Horror doesn’t appeal, then it has to make a deal with Victor in order to make a new movie. Victor only owns the U.S. rights to the original movie. Horror owns the foreign rights to the first movie and to all the other movies.
Deciding how much money should be received from future movies and merchandise is a really difficult question. If you look at the 2009 remake for an example, that movie took elements from Parts 1-4. How much was Victor’s contribution worth? And what about Jason merchandise? How do you split the royalties on all the Jason figures?. It’s a really difficult question for which there is no set answer.
As for the game, it is and shall always be a great game. But even if Victor and Sean work things out, the guys at [Gun Media] will not be adding new content.
Nobody wants to wait years for another film. We want one ASAP. For the sake of not only the fans, but for Jason Voorhees himself, let’s hope Horror Inc. and Victor Miller can put their differences aside and work out a deal. Seeing Michael Myers back in theaters is nice, but we’re still very much hoping for a new Friday the 13th.