With another Halloween nearly upon us, Jason Voorhees is no doubt swinging his machete and donning his hockey mask on TV screens around the world as horror fans embrace the spirit of the season. But viewers are still waiting for the Crystal Lake killer's return to the big screen, as the new Friday the 13th movie was recently pushed back to a planned October 13th, 2017 release. In an interview with Collider, Platinum Dunes producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form gave an update on the thirteenth Friday the 13th and confirmed that Breck Eisner will indeed direct the film.
Speaking to Collider, Fuller and Form talked about the long journey to get Jason back in theaters following 2009's Friday the 13th. After resisting pressures to make a found footage film, they considered continuing the storyline of Jared Padalecki's Clay and Amanda Righetti's Whitney, but a direct sequel to the 2009 movie couldn't find traction. The new Friday the 13th movie is finally gaining more momentum, though, with Breck Eisner in the director's chair and a shooting location and start time penciled in.
"I’m here to say that we found the location. We have found the lake, we have found the camp. We found an amazing script by Aaron Guzikowski. Breck Eisner is directing the movie. That movie is shooting in early Spring.”"
Form and Fuller also spoke to Collider about taking the franchise in a "fresh" direction while not completely disregarding the films that came before the new one:
"What we don’t want to do is alienate the audience who hasn’t seen the preceding 12 Friday the 13th movies. Aaron Guzikowski’s job, as challenging as it is, is to come up with a movie where if you haven’t seen any go the other ones, you can still come and see this one and love it and not feel like you’ve missed out on anything. And if you have seen the other ones, we want this to feel fresh."
We'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on more details regarding the new Friday the 13th movie leading all the way up to its scheduled release on October 13th, 2017. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the recent plans for the thirteenth film in the franchise?