Monday evening's announcement that Blumhouse Productions and Trancas International Films were teaming up to produce a new HALLOWEEN film for Miramax, with franchise creator John Carpenter returning to the series for the first time since HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH to executive produce the film, has stirred up a lot of excitement among fans of the series, and it has also stirred up a lot of speculation.
First came the rumor that OCULUS / HUSH director Mike Flanagan may be in talks to write and direct the latest Michael Myers film. Now another filmmaker might have tossed his hat into the ring.
Adam Wingard, director of YOU'RE NEXT and THE GUEST, took to his Twitter account yesterday to follow up a retweet of John Carpenter's link to the news with a series of images from the HALLOWEEN franchise – specifically, a shot from the original HALLOWEEN, the movie's poster art, and a couple screen caps from HALLOWEEN III, a film which is highly unlikely to be relevant to whatever occurs in this new movie.
Wingard is a HALLOWEEN series fanboy, as he made quite clear in THE GUEST, putting in visual nods to HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN III, and HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS. His tweeting of these images could have simply been a celebration of the news, but his fellow fans will grasp on to any straw we can clutch at this point in the project's development and the tweets have fueled speculation that Wingard may be wanting to take the helm himself.
I would be quite happy to get a HALLOWEEN movie from either Flanagan or Wingard. If they're both in contention to direct a HALLOWEEN film executive produced by John Carpenter, the only issue this long-troubled franchise has right now is an embarrassment of riches.