Well, here's a rumor that's so out-of-nowhere that it might make you check your calendar to make sure we haven't jumped ahead to April 1st. Rest assured, this isn't an April Fool's Day joke: the folks over at Bloody Disgusting have heard that NBA star LeBron James and his production company SpringHill Entertainment are in talks to team with Vertigo Entertainment to produce a reboot of the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise.
With original FRIDAY THE 13TH producer/director Sean S. Cunningham and screenwriter Victor Miller in the midst of a court battle over who deserves to own the rights to the first film and the characters and locations introduced in it, I'm not sure how it's possible that SpringHill and Vertigo could be discussing getting involved with such a project, but that's the word going around.
Cunningham's company Horror Inc. did recently release a statement saying they were developing something F13 related, something which wouldn't feature settings or characters Miller wrote about in the first movie, but would have the hockey mask wearing killer Jason Voorhees in it. Maybe this is what they were talking about, and LeBron James is going to help them bring it to the screen.
A judge recently ruled that Miller should be granted the copyright to the original FRIDAY THE 13TH within the United States, but that decision is not set in stone just yet. Cunningham had until the end of this month to file an appeal, and he did. So there are more court dates ahead.
To be clear, the rumor is that LeBron James would be serving as a producer on a new FRIDAY THE 13TH, not that he would have an acting role in the film… Although, that's not out of the question, since he has been getting into acting as well lately. He appeared as himself in the comedy TRAINWRECK and is set to reprise the role of himself in a sequel to SPACE JAM.
James has talked about being a fan of FRIDAY THE 13TH and Jason Voorhees in the past, and in 2015 even released a line of blood-splattered sneakers that were inspired by the franchise.