The Lawsuit That Stopped Production On Friday The 13th
While some horror fans are opposed to reboots and reimaginings of their favorite characters and franchises, many of them still long to see the premier genre icons return to the screen for more hurrahs. Much like Batman, Superman, and the countless superheroes who've graced the screen in many iterations throughout the years, there are scary movie aficionados who want to see Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and their slasher bedfellows receive a similar long-term focus. That's especially true when it comes to Jason Voorhees, the knife-wielding, hockey masking-wearing villain of the "Friday the 13th" series.
It's been over a decade since Jason last hacked and slashed his way through a group of teenagers at Camp Crystal Lake in the successful 2009 reboot. At the time, many viewers probably anticipated a sequel to follow. However, with the exception of 2017's "Friday the 13th: The Game," it's been all quiet on the Jason front. Of course, there have been attempts to launch more movies — and even a found-footage film — but legal mumbo-jumbo has gotten in the way.
Don't hold your breath for a new Friday the 13th movie
There have been some attempts to relaunch the "Friday the 13th" movie franchise in recent years, only to fall apart due to the drama surrounding the rights to the saga. Jason Blum recently declared his interest in rebooting the slasher franchise following the success of "Halloween" (via Screen Rant), but it probably won't happen any time soon. As WhatCulture points out, "Friday the 13th" is at the center of an ongoing lawsuit between Victor Miller, the writer of the original movie, and Sean S. Cunningham, the director of the first film and producer on multiple sequels. It's complicated and very messy.
According to Certified Forgotten, there is much confusion regarding who owns the rights to "Friday the 13th" and the Jason Voorhees character. You can't have one without the other, but that might be the resolution after the end of the legal drama. Adult Jason didn't technically enter the franchise as the primary villain until "Friday the 13th Part 2," meaning that, theoretically, a case can be made that he has nothing to do with the events of the first movie. (Was Jason the dead person in the water, etc.? Possibly not.) Therefore, there's a chance that Jason could return to the screen in something that isn't related to "Friday the 13th," with a whole new backstory. But that's up to the courts to decide, and for now, no settlement has been made.