It's been nearly a decade since the last FRIDAY THE 13TH film hit theaters and despite several attempts at crafting a follow-up, Jason Voorhees has sadly been absent from our screens. Production on a new FRIDAY THE 13TH film was due to begin early last year, but Paramount wound up pulling the project from their schedule before principal photography could begin. While speaking with Syfy, Platinum Dunes producer Brad Fuller elaborated on just what happened with the FRIDAY THE 13TH sequel that never was.
There was a couple of things. I think there was concern about the rights looming at that point. Paramount was concerned if they made that movie and the rights were not available… if you are going to make that movie, you want to be able to ride it for more than one or two movies. That didn’t exist in this rights structure. We were going down the road to make the movie, but, at the end of the day, economically and/or creatively, they didn’t want to make it.
There’s this clause in the rights that the rights revert back to New Line. As that date became closer and closer, Paramount would have made one Friday the 13th movie and then New Line would have benefitted if the movie was great. Then, New Line could have followed it up with subsequent movies. It put Paramount in a very tough position to go ahead and actually make the movie, and then us to reap the benefits if it was successful beyond that particular film.
When Paramount pulled FRIDAY THE 13TH last year, some suggested that the poor box-office performance of RINGS was to blame. Brad Fuller agrees that the reception to RINGS definitely played a part. "Yes, I do. That was also a time when sequels were not doing as well. We’re all kind of reactionary when you are making something. You are looking for evidence that tells you that what you are making is right on the cutting edge of where society is going, and you certainly don’t want to make something that feels like the timing is wrong," Fuller said. "I wouldn’t say the whole thing fell apart because of that. I certainly think that played into it. But, I also think the rights and now the litigation about the right for Friday the 13th, played into it in a much more substantial way than just how the Rings sequel did."
Brad Fuller also spoke about why it seems to be so difficult to get Jason Voorhees right.
When you talk about backstory, that always seems to frustrate the fans. I understand that. But, when you are making a movie for a mass audience, you want to make sure the people understand where the character comes from. You can’t assume all the audience has seen the previous movies. The backstory is always a tricky thing. Then, what Jason is capable of doing, and how it fits into the other movies, is also a bit of a challenge. In some movies, he has been portrayed as not that smart and not that agile.
In our movie, he was really agile. That was something we decided. The same way that zombies were not always moving around quickly and dazingly walking, we thought if we are going to make Jason scary, let’s have him run like a linebacker. That’s why Derek Mears was such a good Jason. There are a lot of reasons he was a great Jason, but he’s such a physical actor. We thought that made the character scarier. The audience comes to it with preconceived notions, which makes it impossible to satisfy everyone about it. That’s the problem. To so many people, that franchise is so important. The things that are important to one person, may not be important to the next. It’s hard to satisfy everyone.
The rights to the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise are currently embroiled in a lawsuit involving Victor Miller, writer of the original film, but once that's settled, I'd imagine that Jason Voorhees will once again return to slay promiscuous teenagers.