Happy spooky season, Supa-Fans! In honour of this festive, and spooky occasion, we went back into the Supanova storage cupboard and dusted off the good old Scuttlebutt-o-meter Version 2.0©®™ (Patent Pending) to put another viral movie rumour to the test.
Word on the interwebs would have it that Warner Bros. is planning a long belated follow-up to their 2003 horror crossover event Freddy vs. Jason by pitting A Nightmare on Elm Street’s infamous dream stalker against a whole new horror icon, in the form of Halloween’s Michael Myers.
Is there any real substance to these rumours? Or is this just another case of overzealous horror fans dressing their fan fiction wish list up as genuine Hollywood gossip? Let’s dig in Supa-Fans, and find out!
So, what’s the goss?
Word is that Warner Bros., who are actively looking to leverage much of their existing IP and breath fresh life into some of their more profitable properties, are planning to make a direct sequel to Freddy vs. Jason, but this time with Michael Myers set to appear opposite Freddy Krueger. Other variations have even gone so far as to mention the possibility of Child’s Play’s killer doll Chucky also popping up.
Where did all this come from?
This one has been making the rounds on social media for the past few years already, but the rumour seems to have gotten fresh wind off the back of filming getting underway on the Friday the 13th prequel series, Crystal Lake, earlier this year.
A little digging, however, would suggest this particular rumour first started doing the rounds in 2022, which coincided with the rights to the Halloween franchise moving out of Blumhouse Production’s hands following the release of Halloween Ends.
Given that Trancas International Films, the main rights owner of the Halloween franchise, shortly thereafter began taking offers for the next steward for the bloody adventures of Michael Myers, it is entirely possible that Warner Bros. may have been weighing up the potential of snapping up the rights to the character at the time.
What’s the verdict?
With Freddy vs. Jason bringing in a healthy $116 million in worldwide box office against an original budget of $30 million, it would be easy to see why people would think Warner Bros. would be looking to pursue a sequel. The problem, however, lies in the complex rights situation surrounding not only Michael Myers, but even Freddy himself.
Back in 2019, 35 years after the release of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, the US character rights for Freddy Krueger officially reverted to the Wes Craven estate. While New Line Cinema (owned by Warner Bros.) still holds the international rights to the franchise, any plans for any new movies featuring the character must now be done in agreement with both the Craven estate and New Line Cinema.
On top of this, even if Craven’s estate and New Line did happen to reach an agreement to make a Freddy vs. Michael Myers movie, they would still have to contend with Miramax, who successfully picked up the television rights to the Halloween franchise in 2023.
While, technically, it is possible that the film rights may be entirely separate to what Miramax currently hold, and Trancas International Films could still strike a deal with New Line/Warner Bros., by all accounts their current focus is on developing a Halloween television series with Miramax, and it would be unlikely they would be looking to have those plans diluted by a potential crossover movie at this point in time.
Meanwhile, if we also want to take into account the additional Chucky rumours, then things get even more complex. With Universal, Amazon MGM Studios and original Child’s Play creator Don Mancini all having their own pieces of the Chucky pie, that’s an entirely different licensing mess altogether.
With all of this in mind, we provided the Scuttlebutt-o-meter Version 2.0©®™ (Patent Pending) with all the relevant data, and after sharpening its finger blades and slipping into some random teenager’s nightmares, it spat out a 3.69% likelihood rating.
Drawing our attention to the enormous behind-the-scenes rights mess, coupled with the confirmed plans for a Halloween TV series by a completely different studio, it seems unlikely that Warner Bros. have any genuine plans in place for a Freddy vs. Michael Myers movie, let alone one that could also see Chucky pop up.
As such it’s probably best to call this rumour: highly unlikely at this point in time.
