‘Friday the 13th’: Sean S. Cunningam Says Treatment Done, Hopes to Collaborate With Warner Bros. and Paramount!
It’s been a disgusting 17 years since Jason Voorhees graced the big screen in New Line Cinema’s Friday the 13th reboot, and since then, a lot has happened.
The biggest is that Sean S. Cunningham, the director of the very first Friday the 13th (1980), has finally resolved his long-standing lawsuit with OG writer Victor Miller, and the two, along with Horror Inc., are all collaborating on the Jason Universe, a sort of “alternate universe” for the Jason Voorhees character (since they can’t use the Friday the 13th title or previous Jason Voorhees looks).
In a new interview with TMZ, Cunningham confirms that this legal battle is resolved, which is nice to hear straight from the horse’s mouth.
“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.”
More recently, Paramount Pictures has acquired Warner Bros. and plans a merger, which would bring the Friday the 13th rights Warner Bros. owns into the Paramount fold, making things less complicated (and yet they still are).
Cunningham tells TMZ that not only do they have an “old school” treatment in place, but they hope the merger will help the two parties collaborate on a brand-new Friday the 13th movie!
The site adds: “…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.”
Cunningham also tells the site that the script needs a “young writer” because the heart of the series has always been “the fear of untimely death” – and that he’s too old to worry about that these days. He also mentioned he’s just a “cheerleader” for the project … but anticipates being an executive producer – if it happens.
I think about the Child’s Play remake often and do wonder if this ends up back at a studio, if not, only just so it can remain canon and utilize the Friday the 13th title that’s just as iconic as Jason Voorhees.
Thoughts?
Across the Friday the 13th franchise, Jason Voorhees begins as the tragic backstory of a boy who drowned at Camp Crystal Lake, prompting his mother to kill the counselors she blamed in Friday the 13th (1980); after her death, Jason becomes the main killer in Friday the 13th Part 2, first wearing a sack mask before adopting his iconic hockey mask in Friday the 13th Part III. He is killed as a human in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, but returns as an undead, nearly unstoppable slasher after being resurrected by lightning in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, continuing his killing spree through later sequels, including Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood and Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
The series then experiments with new directions: Jason’s evil possessing others in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, a futuristic setting in Jason X, and a crossover battle with Freddy Krueger in Freddy vs. Jason, before the story was rebooted with a modern retelling in Friday the 13th (2009).
The franchise is expanding again with Crystal Lake, a prequel TV series arriving on Peacock in 2026 that explores the origins of Jason and the dark history of Camp Crystal Lake.
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