Is it time to return to Camp Crystal Lake?
It’s been thirteen years since Jason Voorhees last slashed his way onto the big screen and fans have eagerly awaited news of his return since. Complicated legal battles between the original movie’s director Sean Cunningham and the original writer Victor Miller have kept the franchise in limbo for over a decade, as both claim ownership of certain parts of the story.
Miller was awarded the rights to the Friday the 13th screenplay back in 2018, but Cunningham still owns the rights to the adult version of the Jason character. Ways around the situation have been theorized by fans for years, but it was always inevitable that the pair would have to come to some kind of resolution.
Now, after over a decade, it looks like something is in the works. Last week, Cunningham sent fans into a frenzy when he updated his bio on Cameo. The bio, which has since been changed, read:
“Sean S. Cunningham directed and produced the seminal horror film Friday the 13th, creating the iconic villain Jason Voorhees. The movie has spawned 12 installments with a 13th scheduled for next year.”
And now New Line Cinema has gone one step further, posting an advertisement for new Camp Counselors for Crystal Lake (along with account horroricons) with the caption “Don’t ask what happened to the last counselors.” More recently there was a post about Jason wanting to talk, but that has since disappeared.
While the post doesn’t confirm a new film is coming, it certainly is a good indicator that Jason will be making a return in some form in the near future.
The last time we saw Friday the 13th in theatres was back in 2009, when director Marcus Nispel brought us a modern day remake which starred Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) and Danielle Panabaker (The Flash). Since then, popular horror franchises like Halloween, Scream, Candyman and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre have all had reboots.
Stay tuned for more updates as we learn them.