As the Friday the 13th legal saga rumbles on, fans could be forgiven for giving up hope. In a nutshell, the original film’s writer Victor Miller is engaged in a lawsuit with Sean Cunningham and Horror Inc. over the rights to the franchise.
A judge ruled (correctly, in my opinion) that the rights to the original film’s screenplay and all concepts within belong to Miller. Cunningham and Horror Inc. are appealing the decision though, arguing that the court’s ruling does not just negatively impact them, but could potentially have extremely damaging ramifications for the entire industry. Suddenly that once anticipated early settlement feels a long, long way away.
But now Kane Hodder, who’s played Jason Voorhees four times, has said in an interview that fans shouldn’t give up hope just yet.
“I think [Miller and Cunningham] both realize the potential for fans that is being missed. They’re both business people and see things differently and unfortunately their priority is not the fans, it’s more business. And I just really hope they can figure it out so we can get the rest of the game content out there and do one more movie. And I would say to the fans, don’t give up yet because we thought things were dead in the past and they came back. So, just like Jason, don’t give up quite yet. Hang in there. Keep hoping for me to come back and kill motherfuckers again.”
When Hodder refers to game content, he’s talking about the excellent asymmetric multiplayer title Friday the 13th: The Game. The legal battle saw its DLC plans abruptly curtailed, with Hodder clearly disappointed that his hard work on the character has gone to waste.
“We may never see the rest of the Friday the 13th game content that we’ve already done, too, for the same reason.Not only a movie, but I did motion capture for that game over the course of almost two years and there’s so much that could be put into the game and it may never see the light of day because of this.”
Even though I’m in Victor Miller’s camp on this (and the law appears firmly with him), I feel an intense frustration that Friday the 13th is still on hold. It feels like an obvious candidate for a smart reboot, with the geniuses at Blumhouse surely able to put a contemporary spin on it that also respects what came before.
Why can’t we get a Friday the 13th of the same caliber as 2018’s Halloween? Maybe one day, but for now, lawyers have managed to do what being beaten, shot, stabbed, electrocuted, blown up and literally sent to hell couldn’t: stop Jason Voorhees.
