Hollywood has never been one to let sleeping franchises lie, so fans of the landmark Friday the 13th series shouldn’t be shocked to hear that Jason Voorhees will be returning to theaters in the very near future.
When Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures reached a deal earlier this year that returned rights to the slasher series exclusively to Paramount, many fans had hoped that the studio would immediately launch production on a thirteenth installment, perhaps even for a late October 2013 release. Luckily, Paramount appears to be taking the time to ensure that Friday the 13th‘s next installment will be more memorable than the 2009 reboot.
The studio has slotted the currently-untitled film for March 13th, 2015. Very little is known about plot details at this time, though a found-footage aspect will reportedly be involved. The only other piece of information that has come out regarding the film is a tweet from Exhibitor Relations:
Paramount sets FRIDAY THE 13th for March 13, 2015. Not a sequel to the reboot, mind you, another reboot entirely.
— Exhibitor Relations (@ERCboxoffice) November 27, 2013
The 2009 remake wasn’t a huge hit with critics, and that film’s stars Jared Padalecki and Danielle Panabaker are likely too busy with other projects to reprise their roles in a follow-up anyway, so starting over and re-introducing the series to modern audiences makes a lot of sense. Expect Paramount to heavily play up the fact that this will be the thirteenth entry in the Friday the 13th series, though the film will almost certainly also introduce a fresh cast of somewhat familiar faces so as to set the franchise up for another long stretch of movies.
Hopefully, the found-footage angle won’t turn the iconic Friday the 13th series into another monotonous, dizzying horror flick (see: Chernobyl Diaries, Atrocious, Apollo 18), but Paramount has been with the franchise since the beginning, so fans can likely trust them to do what’s best for everyone’s favorite machete-wielding mass murderer.
Are you excited to see Friday the 13th come back to life after a few years in the ground? Should Paramount hold onto the 2009 film’s Voorhees (Derek Mears) or completely start anew? Sound off in the comments section!
