Friday The 13th Series: "Crystal Lake" Direct to Series order at Peacock

[John]

https://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3738920/friday-the-13th-tv-series-update-can-jason-voorhees-appear-in-the-peacock-series/

[Vee]

A nice idea, but the Friday the 13th rights battle between its producer Sean Cunningham and ex-AMC scribe Victor Miller (who wrote the first film) has been going on for years now and I have no faith in this actually coming to pass (and let's not even get started on Peacock).

I have several of the scripts various people tried to put in production over the last decade. One was a wonderful draft by ex-Hannibal and Channel Zero writer Nick Antosca, who later did Antlers and now works on Chucky, which was sort of half Richard Linklater, Dazed and Confused-esque coming of age film, half daylight slasher movie. That was going to be directed by David Bruckner, who just did the brilliant The Night House and the decent Hellraiser reboot. Didn't happen. Then there was a weird draft by the guy who wrote Villeneuve's Prisoners, which tried to sort of mash together a prequel and the first two films all into one script, with three killers - Mrs. Voorhees (in a role written for Vera Farmiga), her previously-unseen husband and finally the undead Jason, all across multiple time periods, all in 90 mins. There was also a found footage take floating around.

Everyone from Blumhouse to LeBron James has wanted to acquire the rights and get these movies back into production. None of it came to fruition because of the fight over ownership, which also sank any future updates for the wonderful PS4 video game. Here they're trying to get around the rights snafu because Miller now technically owns the right to the intellectual property of the first film he wrote (i.e., Mrs. Voorhees, Jason only as a child/ghost, etc.) but cannot use the 'real' Jason or anything else from the sequels. I suppose it's workable, but why? The only reason I have interest is because Bryan Fuller is attached, and that's a whole other can of worms.

As with any other project Bryan Fuller has attached himself to in the last 5-8 years, I will only believe it exists when it actually goes into production and he's still onboard for longer than six subsequent months. He's still very talented but I knew his queer-centric Christine adaptation he's been writing would likely never come out (and I'm pretty sure it won't), and given the ongoing rights drama here I have serious doubts this ever will let alone with him still involved. If he doesn't want to end up just going back to more Hannibal he needs to actually produce a new project to completion. A Friday the 13th legally-enforced prequel project at a flailing streamer is not the best bet. But I guess we'll see!

Edited November 1, 2022 by Vee

[John]

Seems to be according to Full a Pre-Remake series not a prequel

[Vee]

If it's set before the movies, it is a prequel. Miller does not have the rights to anything beyond the material in the first film.

The story now indicates other parties are now involved which do have more of the rights to Friday, but also that they can only do use of those things in the context of a streaming series vs. a movie and frankly, I'm not convinced that will hold up in court. Cunningham is litigious and possessive.

Edited November 1, 2022 by Vee

[John]

Both Miller and Sean S Cunningham are producing this. So they can use anything. It states so in the link I posted where Fuller states its more a pre-remake than a prequel

[Vee]

I edited my post above, but that being said, Cunningham himself is not producing this. Other parties are. And like every other potential Friday project in the last decade I'll only believe it happens when it exists.

[John]

Here is another article

https://www.fangoria.com/original/exclusive-bryan-fuller-tells-us-everything-he-can-about-crystal-lake

[DRW50]

Bryan Fuller and his egomania are never going to get my interest. I am just glad this wasn't an update of the TV show, which would have upset me.

[Vee]

As a horror fan, the collapse of this dream project did not surprise me for many reasons. Two things can also be true, though: 1) Bryan Fuller's ego and behavior is often his own worst enemy, he splashes out on budgets and has failed to launch numerous dream projects over the last decade. And 2) Bryan Fuller has brilliant creative instincts and is also often stymied by outside risk-averse bullshít, of which there appears to have been a lot here.

The saddest part for me is that it's almost certain Adrienne King (the wonderful heroine of the first film, who was unceremoniously killed off in the opening of the second without a scripted scene while King went into seclusion for years to avoid a stalker) will no longer be involved in any new iteration - Fuller had hired her among many other talented people mentioned to write for the new show and possibly be on-camera again (King can still act and has done a short Friday fan film). The same goes for the likely dismissal of brilliant directors like Vincenzo Natali, and the disappearance of Kevin Williamson's chase-centric episode on the frozen Crystal Lake. Williamson has had many sins since Scream, but his recent pandemic film Sick shows he still knows how to write horror.

The one silver lining here is the mention that Nick Antosca may take over - Antosca is a brilliant writer (also from the Hannibal writers' room) who more recently did some of the excellent Channel Zero anthology series for SyFy, as well as writing Antlers, writing on Chucky and doing a very good, unproduced Friday the 13th feature script in the last decade, which was very much a mood piece full of daylight horror, half Dazed & Confused coming of age movie and half slasher with a lot of unexpected turns.

Edited June 18, 2024 by Vee

[Soaplovers]

I have a feeling the writer and actor strike helped derail momentum for this project as well.

 

[Vee]

It did, but I also think many things are true: A24 was unprepared to properly mount an ongoing series vs. movies, Bryan Fuller was uncompromising and likely overbudget and Peacock/Universal likely also tried to weasel out on a writers room and paying people for their early work, which was a key issue in the strikes. Shameful of the studios.

[DRW50]

Thanks @Vee . I avoid anything involving Fuller and his ego trips, but I am sorry for the loss of what this show might have been, and for Adrienne King. 

Not sure if this is the right thread but close enough. I never knew Gene Siskel had people send angry letters to poor Betsy Palmer.

 

[Vee]

I still think you might like Hannibal if you watched it! But yes, the Bryan Fuller project merry-go-round has been one I have largely checked out on in recent years because of all the drama. I'm amazed he managed to fund and shoot his own feature film recently (with a stacked cast).

[Antoyne]

I’m still upset we didn’t get more of Hannibal. One of the most visually interesting and fantastically acted shows I’ve seen.

[Vee]

At this point I suspect a final season of that will ultimately be the only show Fuller gets off the ground again tbh. It's an easy financial win for him at Amazon or wherever else.