Friday The 13th 2: 3D Confirmed, Scream 4 Hurting Sequel Chances?
It is no secret to horror fans and people working within the industry that horror films are being overlooked currently by most major distribution studios. There are the occasional winners like Paranormal Activity and the recently released Insidious. However, these are a different brand of horror film, not the slasher film that fans of the Friday the 13th franchise have become accustomed to viewing. It looks as though distributors like Warner Bros. are indeed hesitant to dive back into green-lighting a project having to do with homicidal maniacs such as Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger.
Hollywood is indeed cyclical and at some point it is a definite certainty that we will see Friday the 13th in the cinemas once again. That being said, box office grosses may be backing up studios in their decision to hold onto certain horror properties by not releasing newer movies of those franchises. Scream 4 may be the biggest indicator of such thinking. Looking to capitalize off of ten years of audience anticipation with all of the original principal players returning for a new Scream romp, expectations were high for a huge opening weekend gross. Although, roughly $20+ million dollars is a nice haul for a first weekend of release, previous installments brought in closer to $40 million dollars and that was ten or more years ago.
By comparison, a little over two years ago, the Friday the 13th reboot opened just north of $40 million dollars. That number would be hindered by the historic drop in the film's second weekend, which is sure to be one reason Warner Bros. has exercised caution in creating a sequel. This past weekend Brad Fuller was back on Twitter answering questions by fans, and he responds to fans question about the very topic of Scream 4 and its smaller box office gross.
When Mr. Fuller was asked, "Are the poor opening numbers of scream 4 hurting the chances of a possible sequel to friday the 13th?”, he answered simply, "yes". When actors and crew members get on Twitter and other media outlets urging people to support the small number of horror films that are currently in release, they really mean it as it seems that studios are using the success of these films as a gauge for releasing future projects. The Platinum Dunes producer was also asked his preference of shooting the next Friday the 13th sequel, "would you rather 2d or 3d for the new F13?”, for which Fuller answered "3d".
Fans can hope that this Friday sequel starts moving soon, but horror, or more specifically slasher films, may have to wait for an upswing in the production studios' eyes before any progress can be made. At least we know that if Platinum Dunes makes the next Friday the 13th, it will be in 3D!
