One simply cannot keep a legacy horror franchise down for long. It was less than a year ago that Halloween Ends hit theaters and, as the title promised, that iteration of the franchise ended rather definitively. Director David Gordon Green’s trilogy that began with 2018’s Halloween reached its conclusion, with Michael Myers meeting his very explicit end. But since when has that ever stopped Hollywood from doing its thing? Case in point, it looks like a reboot or, unlikely though it may seem, a continuation of some kind is coming sooner rather than later.
According to the folks at Bloody Disgusting, Miramax and Malek Akkad’s Trancas International Films now have the rights back following the conclusion of Green’s trilogy, which was produced by Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures. Miramax is now said to be actively shopping the rights to Halloween around to various studios and streamers. This, rather crucially, includes both the film and TV rights.
Per the report, there is a massive bidding war going on for the TV rights between A24 and Miramax. Trancas solely owns the TV rights to the franchise, whereas Miramax co-owns the movie rights. Hence, Miramax is trying to secure the TV rights as well. So that means we could get a TV show of some kind, much like what A24 is doing with Friday the 13th right now, with the Crystal Lake series currently in the works at Peacock. A24, it appears, could have two horror crown jewels under the same roof, depending on how things shake out. Nothing is set in stone just yet.
The studio is said to be open to both movie and TV projects from both traditional studios and streamers. It will all come down to the pitches and financial terms. Again, Halloween Ends really closed the book on that incarnation of the Michael Myers and Laurie Strode saga. So we would most likely be looking at a reboot or something entirely different. Perhaps something like Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which didn’t include Michael Myers at all? There are certainly ways one could go about it without treading on the most recent trilogy.
Whatever the story ends up being, money talks. And the recent Halloween trilogy was a huge financial success, with the films taking in a combined $491 million at the global box office. John Carpenter, director of the original 1978 horror classic, said during the Steel City Convention (per Comicbook.com) that if Halloween Ends made money, more would probably follow.
"I didn't expect there to be a sequel [to Halloween '78]. The movie business is ruled by money. [The first] Halloween made so much money, here they came again, the same guys [saying], 'Hey John, let's do another one. I guarantee you if Halloween Ends makes a lot of money, guess what? Just guess what."
No word yet on how soon a new Halloween project could hit the big screen - or the small screen for that matter - but stay tuned as we’ll be sure to keep you posted as further details come our way.
