Blumhouse has tried to get the rights to Friday the 13th & other classics

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

In addition to creating their own franchises, like PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, SINISTER, INSIDIOUS, and THE PURGE, Blumhouse Productions has also shown an interest in getting involved with established horror properties, having produced a meta follow-up to THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN and a remake of MARTYRS, and adding to the AMITYVILLE franchise with AMITYVILLE: THE AWAKENING. (Outside of horror, they've also made JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS and BENJI movies.)

The biggest example of Blumhouse working with an established property is coming this October with the release of their HALLOWEEN sequel… and if company founder Jason Blum has his way, they'll be getting involved with more familiar titles in the future.

During a Twitter Q&A session, Blum revealed that Blumhouse has pursued the rights to craft their own versions of such films as THE CROW, Wes Craven's THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, and John Carpenter's Stephen King adaptation CHRISTINE. 

Blum also expressed varying levels of interest in producing a remake of I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, working on the SCREAM and ALIEN franchises, and taking control of Universal's Dark Universe endeavor. (The Dark Universe question got a very enthusiastic "Yes!!!!")

Projects he confirmed his company won't be working on include sequels to THE BELKO EXPERIMENT and OCULUS, and a remake of THE BLOB, which Blumhouse considered doing but then passed on.

The most interesting tweets (to me) were when Blum said he has tried to secure the rights to the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise "a bunch of times" and named FRIDAY THE 13TH when asked what movie he "would love to remake in the future".

Of course, it's going to be a while before anyone will get the chance to make a new FRIDAY THE 13TH movie, as the original film's director Sean S. Cunningham and screenwriter Victor Miller are in the midst of a court battle over which of them should have the rights to the franchise in the first place. When that issue is worked out, it would be interesting to see what Blumhouse would do with F13.

Blum said he doesn't have any ideas in place for a FRIDAY THE 13TH movie, as it would be too sad to have a vision for his own entry in the series but then never be able to get the rights to make it.

Directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Blumhouse's HALLOWEEN sequel only acknowledges the events of the original 1978 HALLOWEEN. It's set to reach theatres on October 19th.

for sure yes on friday the 13th. ive tried a bunch of times to get the rights. https://t.co/WSB06QB98J

— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) August 16, 2018

Friday the 13 https://t.co/9Rphzp8KFb

— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) August 17, 2018

Only after I got rights. To sad otherwise. https://t.co/8IxBkBmDCs

— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) August 17, 2018