Summary
- Jason Voorhees may return to the big screen soon, as legal issues seem resolved, but studios are hesitant about the investment.
- The
Friday the 13th
franchise has a history of profitability despite low budgets, indicating potential for a new successful installment. - The horror genre continues to thrive financially, suggesting that a revived Friday the 13th film with Jason Voorhees would likely be profitable.
It has been 15 years since Jason Voorhees last stalked his victims at Camp Crystal Lake on the big screen. After the release of the remake in 2009, the Friday the 13th franchise found itself in a bit of limbo, at first due to the polarizing response to the reboot and then because of very complicated legal issues that have been a greater enemy of the hockey-mask-wearing killer than some of the bravest final girls he has come up against.
Now that those legal issues have seemingly been resolved, even though logistics suggest they are still a bit complicated, fans have been anticipating when Jason will be back on the big screen. It seems like it would be an easy bet to bank on a return to Crystal Lake, but the director of the original Friday the 13th, Sean S. Cunningham, has suggested that studios are too afraid to invest in a new film because they won’t see a proper return on their investment. Given the current state of horror and how lucrative it has been, something about Cunningham’s reasoning seems unfounded. If that’s the reason fans aren’t getting a film just yet, studios should crunch their numbers again and realize that they would likely see a sizable profit from the franchise being resurrected.
Cunningham’s Take on the Friday the 13th Franchise
Cunningham’s comments were made at Texas Frightmare Weekend when the director addressed the idea of a new film coming to fruition anytime soon. While some thought the legal woes of the franchise would be the main culprit, Cunningham didn’t address them much at all and put much of the blame on studios not wanting to risk putting money into a new movie out of fear they wouldn’t see a return on their investment.
Because of this, Cunningham believes it is “at least three years” away before fans see a theatrical installment, but that’s just a guess on his part and not based on any real knowledge of the matter. If this really comes down to economics, the series’ history shows that not much money needs to be put into these projects, and they have proven time and time again that they can turn a profit.
Friday the 13th Films Are Typically Profitable Due to Their Slim Budgets
Inflation certainly plays a role, and no one expects the budgets to be as minuscule as they were when the franchise began in 1980. However, its history should be a good indicator of its profitability in relation to the budget of each film. The first movie was made on a slim $550,000 budget and ultimately grossed $39.9 million. Even though budgets increased a bit across the movies and grosses didn’t always match the highest level of the franchise, profits were still made on the films while the ’80s slasher movie craze took off:
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Friday the 13th Films | Budget | Box Office Total |
|---|---|---|
Friday the 13th Part 2 | $1.25 million | $21.7 million |
Friday the 13th Part III | $2.2 million | $36.7 million |
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter | $2.2 million | $33 million |
After the release of The Final Chapter in 1984, the franchise did begin to see a slip in grosses, but they still proved to be profitable by the end of their runs:
Friday the 13th Films | Budget | Box Office Total |
|---|---|---|
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning | $2.2 million | $21.9 million |
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives | $3 million | $19.5 million |
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood | $2.8 million | $19.2 million |
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan | $5.1 million | $14.3 million |
The lowest-grossing film in the ’80s came to a close with Jason Takes Manhattan, but most of the Mount Rushmore villains of horror (Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, etc.) were seeing lesser returns by that point. This had less to do with the franchise itself at the time and more with the state of horror at that moment. Slasher films were dying out, and the horror genre needed to evolve to have a sense of relevancy coming into the new decade.
Friday the 13th survived that transition with the exception of one entry across 12 films released (10 proper movies plus Freddy vs. Jason and the 2009 reboot). Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, released in 1993, grossed $15.9 million on a $3 million budget. It was not a staggering windfall, but not made at a loss. 2001’s Jason X is the only entry that likely lost money at the time of its release or barely broke even. Sending Jason to space was more pricey at $11-14 million, and the movie only grossed $17.1 million worldwide.
Everything rebounded with Freddy vs. Jason in 2003 ($30 million budget, $116.6 million grossed worldwide) and the 2009 remake ($19 million budget, $92.7 million grossed globally). Freddy vs. Jason has the biggest budget of these films and that’s only because it has to combine elements of The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Needless to say, time has shown that these films don’t need outrageous budgets or big stars that command crazy big paychecks, making turning a profit much easier for a studio willing to take a chance on another film.
The Relaunch of Other Legacy Horror Franchises Have Been Financially Successful
Also working in its favor to perform well is that the brand is known worldwide, and the resurrection of other horror movie mainstay franchises shows that there is interest among fans. Halloween was successfully brought back beginning in 2018, breaking records for the franchise, while the Scream series displayed that it wasn’t just a product of late 90s-2000s horror by being successfully relaunched in 2022.
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The Evil Dead franchise also saw a return to form, with Evil Dead Rise performing well at the box office. Even the antics of Jigsaw saw a significant comeback despite seeming like there was nowhere else to go with that particular story. There is no reason to suggest that Jason Voorhees’ return to the big screen wouldn’t spark as much interest if marketed effectively. Fans are clearly hungry for his return, and the success of other legacy horror franchises should prove that he’d be welcomed with open arms.
New Horror Films Continue to Find Success
Horror is also king right now. Even horror titles that aren’t critically well-received are still making money and profits. Look at something like Tarot, a horror film that Sony Pictures appeared to have just dropped with little fanfare. The film was ripped apart by critics, registering a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it quietly made a decent amount of money for the studio, grossing $42 million worldwide on an $8 million budget.
Other horror films released in 2024 alone, despite not putting up huge numbers, show why the genre is just as lucrative as ever. From Night Swim ($15 million budget, $54 million global gross) to Imaginary ($10 million budget, $39.1 million worldwide gross) to the recently released The Strangers: Chapter 1 ($8.5 million budget, $32.7 million worldwide and counting), horror more than proves its return on investment on a regular basis. Now throw a recognizable franchise into the mix, like Friday the 13th, and it’s sure to outgross most of the titles mentioned and then some.
The Future of the Friday the 13th Franchise
Crystal Lake
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- A24 Television, Crystal Lake Entertainment, Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films (EFO Films)
Cunningham may have used the studio excuse to avoid going into how complicated it is to get a film made because the rights are still a bit messy. New Line Cinema owns the Friday the 13th trademark, while the screenwriter of the original movie, Victor Miller, secured a win in a legal battle that gave him the rights to the original screenplay with Horror Inc. and Cunningham maintaining the rights to the sequels.
Given how all over the place this situation is, Cunningham could be referring to the studio not wanting to dig through all the uncertainty over rights issues to put money into getting a movie made. That being said, if the problem is figuring out which rights could be explored, it still feels worth investing in Friday the 13th and Jason Voorhees again. Fans seem hungry for it, and given the disappointed response when Bryan Fuller stepped down as showrunner from the planned A24 Crystal Lake series, it’s clear that the audience is still there. Taking a chance financially seems more likely to be a win over a loss, and studios should be a bit braver in returning to Camp Crystal Lake. The original Friday the 13th (1980) is streaming now on Max.
