Most Friday the 13th fans are well aware of the painful legal battle for the rights to the franchise. While a judge previously ruled in favor of screenwriter Victor Miller over director Sean S. Cunningham and Horror Inc., an appeal from Cunningham’s legal team has continued to draw out the never-ending courtroom quarrel. There had been no apparent end in sight to the messy legal fiasco, but now one of the stars of the franchise is suggesting the turmoil could finally end come Summer 2020.
Starring as prankster Shelly Finkelstein in Friday the 13th Part III, actor Larry Zerner has since become an entertainment copyright lawyer. As he played such an important part of the series (after all, he’s the one who gave Jason his iconic hockey mask), Zerner has been following the case and essentially breaking down the courtroom updates for Friday the 13th fans. In a new tweet, Zerner says the latest update suggests oral arguments will be heard in early February, meaning “there will probably be a decision by June 2020.”
Update in Horror, Inc. v. Miller (#Fridaythe13th case). The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has proposed oral arguments for the week of February 10th, 2020.
This means there will probably be a decision by June 2020.
— Larry Zerner (@Zernerlaw) November 22, 2019
“Probably” isn’t definitive, so there’s no guarantee the final ruling will be made next June. Still, the tentative window for a decision does mean we’re likely half a year, give or take, from the Friday the 13th franchise sorting out its legal issues and finally moving forward. It’s needless to say that there’s a huge demand from fans to see more content from the series, and the success of David Gordon Green’s Halloween has proven just how profitable rebooting these classic horror franchises can be.
The last Friday the 13th movie we got was the remake in 2009, meaning we have now gone longer than a decade without a Jason film. This is also the longest we’ve ever gone between movies, making this wait particularly rough. Let’s hope the 13th Friday the 13th film will be worth the wait. This news comes to us from Larry Zerner on Twitter.
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January 2021 .. so where is the oral .. ?
The case has most likely been delayed because of Covid-19. Hopefully a ruling will finally come this year.
Oh and 1 of the presiding judges passed away which will delay the outcome a little while longer.