Blumhouse Productions head honcho Jason Blum has been busy promoting the latest Blumhouse release YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT starring Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried but it's another high-profile Blumhouse Production that keeps becoming the topic of conversation. HALLOWEEN KILLS, the highly-anticipated follow-up to 2018's HALLOWEEN, is expected to arrive on October 16, 2020, but the absence of a trailer and the uncertainty of movie theater business in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has put this year's release of the film in question. Blum is hopeful the film will still come out this year but he's also a bit non-committal in terms of specifics.
During an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", Blum was asked for an update on HALLOWEEN KILLS and there was a mix of optimism with a dash of uncertainty:
"Well, we're trying to get that trailer out and trying to get that movie out before the end of the year. That's our hope, dream, and plan. We'll see."
To be fair, Blum is in a pretty tight spot. HALLOWEEN KILLS is set to hit theaters in October but movie theaters have also been shuttered since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The big three theater chains that include AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas, and Cinemark, are all eyeing to be open by mid-July but Universal Pictures, who is distributing the film, will be looking closely at how the response will be to the initial opening of the theaters again and moviegoers' desires to actually get back in the seats. Universal Pictures also has that little disagreement with AMC to work out which resulted in the theater chain declaring they would ban Universal releases for not respecting the theatrical to PVOD window when the studio boasted about the success of TROLLS WORLD TOUR. AMC Theatres is the largest theater chain in the U.S., with about 600 locations so I'm sure both parties will want to work this out. The last time AMC CEO Adam Aron brought up their status with Universal they said they were having "healthy" talks but have no Universal films currently scheduled for release at their theaters.
A lot isn't known about HALLOWEEN KILLS except that John Carpenter is returning as executive producer and composer while Jamie Lee Curtis will once again play out favorite scream queen turned fighter, Laurie Strode. David Gordon Green is back to helm the project while Danny McBride returns as a co-writer with Scott Teems, who mentioned in a recent interview that the movie is "bigger, badder" and meaner" than its predecessor. Other cast members include Judy Greer and Andi Matichak, returning from the previous film, along with Anthony Michael Hall and Kyle Richards.
2018's HALLOWEEN brought the franchise back to prominence by coming in as a fresh sequel to the 1978 classic and disregarding the slew of sequels that followed. The end result was a hit with critics and moviegoers as the film earned an impressive $255 million worldwide. The plan is for HALLOWEEN KILLS to be followed by HALLOWEEN ENDS on October 15, 2021, which will wrap this trilogy of films but this could be delayed given the fact that all film and TV productions have been halted since March.
Do YOU think we'll get to see HALLOWEEN KILLS this year?