Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives is often heralded as the best film in the iconic slasher franchise since the original. The movie has become so popular in the decades since its release that some particularly adventurous viewers are even planning to sleep over at the movie’s set in August. The genius of the horror classic is all thanks to Tom McLoughlin, who both wrote and directed the flick. Fans will thus be excited to hear that the fright-inducing mastermind already has a screenplay ready to go for another installment in the series.
Unfortunately, that script likely won’t see the light of day in the near future, as the property is currently muddled in a messy legal battle that doesn’t seem like it’s going to end any time soon. A judge ruled in 2018 that the screenplay of the original 1980 Friday the 13th belongs to the film’s writer Victor Miller, but also said that this doesn’t apply to the character of adult Jason Voorhees because he didn’t pop up until the feature’s many sequels.
Cunningham and Horror Inc., the movie’s director and the franchise’s producer, recently filed an appeal to try to get the rights back. They’re arguing that the court’s decision doesn’t just negatively affect them, but could potentially have extremely damaging ramifications for the industry as whole. Any further installments in the series are therefore postponed until this drama gets sorted out.
Fans were already hoping that this saga ends soon and that sentiment is certain to increase now that there’s news that McLoughlin has a script ready to go. The last time he wrote/directed one of these flicks, he completely redefined the series. Jason’s resurrection from the dead via electricity was the first time the undead murderer was gifted with near superhuman powers. This trend would become a staple of all subsequent Friday the 13th movies, up until the 2009 remake of the original.
Maybe one day audiences will get to see what McLoughlin has up his sleeve. If it’s anything like what he did last time, then viewers will definitely be in for a big treat. For now, though, all anyone can do is keep a close eye on the courtroom drama and watch Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives on repeat.
