In recent years, social media has become the place for fans to have their questions answered by their favorite celebrities, and along with James Gunn, fellow moviemaker Jason Blum is always happy to give answers to some burning questions fans ask via Twitter. One recent question put to the Blumhouse producer asked if he would ever “take a run” at a Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday The 13th movie, which considering Blumhouse’s involvement in the recent Halloween reboot and with a finger in many other upcoming horror franchises.
Blum responded to the question in a way that gives the impression he would if he could. He said:
“I’ve been trying to make both for years. Can’t get the rights.”
Blumhouse has produced some of the best horror movies of the last decade, and with the new Halloween movies, they managed to step further up the ladder. Having had a hand in franchises such as Insidious, The Purge and Paranormal Activity, along with the upcoming Stephen King adaptations of Firestarter and Christine, and the reboots of Fantasy Island and The Invisible Man, having the Blumhouse name attached to any horror movie usually lets fans know what to expect. With that in mind, it is not surprising that Jason Blum would want to get his hands on Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees to add to his collection.
Blumhouse Are Unlikely To Get Their Hands on Freddy Or Jason Due To Tangled Rights Issues
Of course, for anyone who has followed the behind the scenes stories of these two iconic movie franchises, it is not surprising that Blum has failed many times to pick up the rights to either property thanks to a seemingly never-ending issue of who owns the rights, and who, once they have them, actually want to make another film in either franchise.
A Nightmare on Elm Street brought Freddy Krueger to life for the first time in 1984 thanks to the vision of Wes Craven, who created a character that was so iconic thanks Robert Englund’s portrayal of him that it became very unlikely that anyone else could take over the role. This was proven when after eight movies a 2010 reboot did pretty well at the box office, but ultimately failed with critics and fans of the franchise alike. New Line Cinema, who are still hanging onto the rights, did discuss a second reboot in 2015, but nothing more has come of that.
Friday the 13th is a whole other barrel of fish. Starting out as an anti-Halloween slasher – in the fact it set out to be every bit as gory as the original Halloween wasn’t – in 1980, the main franchise spawned no less than 10 sequels, ending with the Freddy vs. Jason crossover movie in 2003. Like A Nightmare on Elm Street, the movie gained a reboot in 2009 before being dragged down into a torrid legal battle between screenwriter Victor Miller and original director/producer Sean S. Cunningham. That legal battle appeared to come to an end last year, but many people it is still not clear who now owns which part of the franchise and who can actually move ahead with making a new movie.
Based on all of this, it is unlikely that we are going to see a new entry in either franchise anytime soon from anyone, let alone Blumhouse. However, there is still a huge appetite for Freddy and Jason out there, which has led to Robert Englund getting into character once more for The Goldbergs Halloween Special in recent years and Friday the 13th being made into a new video game. How and when we will see either again is one of those things we can only wait and find out, but it is likely that Jason Blum will keep plugging away to try and get his hands on the properties.