Friday the 13th franchise may benefit from the Paramount / Warner Bros. merger

2009 was the last time we got a new feature film in the Friday the 13th franchise. The series has been at a virtual and sometimes complete standstill for most of the last seventeen years – and the first problem it ran into was friction between the studios Paramount and Warner Bros. Paramount had released the first eight films in the franchise, then it passed over to New Line Cinema / Warner Bros. for Jason Goes to Hell, Jason X, and Freddy vs. Jason. While the ’09 film wasn’t a direct remake of any previous Friday the 13th, it did contain elements that were lifted from the first four movies, so Warner Bros. had to collaborate with Paramount on that one. After a massive opening weekend, a sequel was put on the fast-track for a 2010 release… but it quickly fell apart because Paramount and Warner Bros. couldn’t agree on the money split for a follow-up.

Now, Paramount and Warner Bros. are moving toward a merger – and original Friday the 13th producer/director Sean S. Cunningham, who has been involved behind-the-scenes again during the Warner Bros. era, couldn’t be happier.

Beneficial Merger

Here are some other reasons we haven’t gotten another Friday the 13th movie in seventeen years: Christopher Nolan, who Warner Bros. had worked with on the Dark Knight trilogy, set up his sci-fi movie Interstellar at Paramount. WB wanted in on the action, so in exchange for being allowed to get involved with the Nolan film, they handed the Friday the 13th rights over to Paramount for a period of five years. Paramount would be allowed to knock out as many F13 movies as they could between 2013 and 2018. The Paramount of the ’80s would have produced three or four movies in that window of time. How many Friday the 13ths did the Paramount of the ’10s make? Zero. They kept the project in development hell right up to the last minute, then cancelled it completely because one of their other horror releases, Rings, was a box office disappointment.

Then there was an extended copyright lawsuit between Cunningham and original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller. That dragged on for years, and when it came to an end, Miller was awarded with the U.S. copyright to the first film. He has gone on to team up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, A24, showrunner Brad Caleb Kane, and Friday the 13th franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian – the last surviving investor in the original film – to develop the “expanded prequel” / “pre-remake-quel” TV series Crystal Lake, which will premiere on the Peacock streaming service sometime this year. The rights holders also teamed with Angry Orchard for the short film Sweet Revenge, which dropped online last year (and then disappeared after a few months).

But Cunningham didn’t just walk away from the Friday the 13th business because he lost that copyright lawsuit. Three years ago, it was reported that he was developing a new Friday the 13th movie. Five months ago, Barsamian confirmed, “We are actively working on a new movie.”

Now, Cunningham has told TMZ that he and Miller have patched up their differences and everyone is hoping that the Paramount / Warner Bros. merger will resolve any studio issues and get the new Friday the 13th movie into production.

As TMZ reported, “Cunningham tells TMZ a film treatment for an “old school” Jason flick is done … and he’s hopeful that, with the mega-merger of Warner Bros. and Paramount, the project will gain serious traction because he says both studios have rights –and that’s been a major hurdle. The horror icon Cunningham tells us that he and franchise co-creator Victor Miller resolved their issues … and he hopes the upcoming studio merger will take care of the other entanglement.“

Cunningham went on to say that the script needs a “young writer” because the heart of the series has always been “the fear of untimely death” — and SC says he’s too old to be worried about that these days. He also mentioned he’s just a “cheerleader” for the project … but anticipates being an executive producer — if it happens.

Are you glad to hear that we might finally get a new “old school” Friday the 13th movie, thanks to the Paramount / Warner Bros. merger? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the franchise get back on track – and I love that the treatment they have is described as being for an “old school Jason flick.” That’s exactly what I want.

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