Sean Cunningham Discusses Hurdle To New Friday The 13th Film Post Rights Battle

With the announcement of the Jason Un1v3rse by Friday The 13th rights holder Horror Inc., there is some positive buzz surrounding the franchise going into this week. Even with the promise of new merchandise, and gaming and interactive experiences, most fans still simply want to see a new film made for everyone to enjoy. This past weekend at the Texas Frightmare convention, original film director and franchise creator Sean Cunningham was a guest on a panel that included original final girl Adrienne King and makeup effects legend Tom Savini. According to the site Creepy Catalog, Sean was asked about the state of a new film being developed and had this to say:

...the major obstacle holding back a new Friday the 13th film is the reluctance of a movie studio to risk putting money into a horror project that might not see a huge return on its investment.

....in the post-pandemic world where movie-watching habits are changing, especially for movies released in theaters, studios like New Line (who own the distribution rights to the Friday the 13th movies) aren’t necessarily willing to provide a substantial budget for a horror movie. At least, not for one they’re not reasonably certain will do well in theaters.

 Sean mentioned it could be at least three years before a new film would see development, which is disappointing to hear. It's surprising to learn that New Line Cinema is reluctant to order a new Friday The 13th film now as Horror is still making a ton of money at the box office, and a extremely popular IP like Friday The 13th would surely make the studio a lot of money. The questions is, how much profit is New Line Cinema looking to make from a new film?

We hope that the launch of the new Horror Inc. universe will show the studio how popular the franchise is and see the potential of a new film and the money that can be brought into New Line Cinema/Warner Bros.