New Line Cinema has seemingly confirmed that a new Friday the 13th movie is officially in development.
The film production studio recently shared on its Instagram account an image of an undisclosed phone screen, which showed an Instagram notification that said, "Jason Voorhees wants to send you [New Line Cinema] a message." The studio captioned the post, "Uh oh. What do you think Jason Voorhees wants?!," fueling recent reports and rumors that a new film in the long-running horror franchise is secretly in development. New Line has distributed the last four Friday the 13th films, beginning with 1993's Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.
A new Friday the 13th movie was previously teased in Aug. 2022 by film producer Roy Lee, who is behind several popular horror movies like The Ring, Blair Witch and It. "[A new Friday the 13th movie] is something that I would love to talk about. You may be hearing something by year’s end… on that front," Lee said. The producer has been attached to a new Friday the 13th film since 2018 when his production company Vertigo Entertainment was set to produce a new installment in the franchise. However, the film never happened due to a legal battle between Friday the 13th's creators over who owns the rights to the franchise, which was only recently settled in late 2021.
Is Jason Voorhees Back?
Sean S. Cunningham, who directed and produced 1980's Friday the 13th, had, until recently, been locked in a long-gestating legal battle with the original film's writer Victor Miller. This prevented any new films in the franchise from being developed. The legal battle finally came to a close in Sept. 2021 when Miller won the domestic rights to the franchise. However, Cunningham still owns the character of adult Jason, who was introduced in later sequels, meaning an agreement between both parties would still need to be reached to allow the long-awaited thirteenth Friday the 13th film to use adult Jason, the Camp Crystal Lake setting and the Friday the 13th title. Cunningham's Cameo biography was recently updated to include a sentence that stated that a new Friday movie was set to come out in 2023. New Line has now all but confirmed that a deal between all parties has been reached and that Jason Voorhees will truly be heading back to the big screen soon.
Friday the 13th is considered one of the most successful film franchises of all time. The series began in 1980 with the release of the original Friday the 13th, which followed a group of camp counselors trying to reopen a summer camp called Crystal Lake and being mysteriously stalked and murdered by an unseen killer. The horror film was a box office success and was followed by nine sequels, one crossover with the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and a 2009 remake. Besides the original film, every installment heavily features the character of Jason Voorhees. The new Friday the 13th film is expected to release in 2023.
Source: Instagram