The Lack of Friday the 13th Movies: A Deep Analysis into What is Going On

Friday the 13th is a well known franchise of slasher that debuted in 1980 and since then… there‘s been sequels, remakes and spinoff. But more than a decade has passed and Jason Voorhees hasn‘t seen in any capacity.

The answer…?

It‘s not the lack of interest or demand that the franchise had, it‘s because there has been a legal battle between the creators and producers.

THE LEGAL BATTLE

The ongoing battle lies in the fight between who owns the rights for the movies. In 2016, Victor Miller, the original screenwriter of the 1980 film put a clause in his contract, which is permitted that the author can reclaim ownership of their work after 35 years. Miller was looking to gain those rights to the original screenplay.

Then, Sean S. Cunningham, who directed the first movie and later was a creative consultant in the franchise, argued against Miller. He told the court that Miller was “disposable writer“ that he was only hired to write the script and nothing else, and the rights corresponded to Cunnighman and his production company.

Years has passed, and the legal battle is still breaking the news, but the point of break is in 2021, when the US Court ruled Miller‘s claim in favor, giving him the rights to the first movie of Friday the 13th inside the United States. But this is too complicated to understand… because Miller owns the script, but Cunnigham still holds the rights for certain aspects of the main character like Jason, including the hockey mask, that was introduced until the third movie.

AFTERMATH

Despite the rocky situation, the franchise is still trying to comeback. There‘s has been rumblings that a new movie was in the works and it was set on the snow, then a sequel to the remake of 2010 was planned. Then, a few years later, a prequel television series was createad called Crystal Lake and it‘s currently filming in Canada and it‘s directed and written by Bryan Fuller, the mastermind behind Hannibal. Victor Miller is involved in the series, at least that‘s hopeful that some advancements are being made. The story will show the early days of Pamela and Jason Voorhees before arriving Crystal Lake.

And as of 2025, it was revealed a new redesign for the character of Jason, with the help of Greg Nicotero and the older design was represented a more grotesque Jason, this version is more cleaner and this version will be utilized in future movies, merch and videogames.

For now, the franchise is showing signs of vital responding and it‘s matter of WHEN we are seeing another movie in the theaters, as it should be. But in the meantime, Jason is killing his way through the courts.

We miss you, Jason!