Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise that comprises twelve slasher films, a television series, novels, comic books, video games, and tie‑in merchandise. The franchise mainly focuses on the fictional character Jason Voorhees, who drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be "cursed" and is the setting for a series of mass murders. Jason is featured in all of the films, as either the killer or the motivation for the killings. The original film, created to cash in on the success of Halloween (1978),[1] was written by Victor Miller and was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham. The films have grossed over $529 million at the box-office worldwide. It was the highest-grossing horror franchise in the world until the release of Halloween (2018), putting that franchise in the top spot.

Frank Mancuso, Jr., a producer of the films, also developed the television show Friday the 13th: The Series after Paramount released Jason Lives. The television series was not connected to the franchise by any character or setting, but was created based on the idea of "bad luck and curses", which the film series symbolized.[2] While the franchise was owned by Paramount, four films were adapted into novels, with Friday the 13th Part III adapted by two separate authors. When the franchise was sold to New Line Cinema, Cunningham returned as a producer to oversee two additional films, in addition to a crossover film with character Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street film series. Under New Line Cinema, thirteen novellas and various comic book series featuring Jason were published.

Although the films were not popular with critics, Friday the 13th is considered one of the most successful media franchises in America—not only for the success of the films, but also because of the extensive merchandising and repeated references to the series in popular culture.[3] The franchise's popularity has generated a fanbase who have created their own Friday the 13th films, fashioned replica Jason Voorhees costumes, and tattooed their bodies with Friday the 13th artwork. Jason's hockey mask has become one of the most recognizable images in horror and popular culture

Plot

In the original Friday the 13th (1980), Mrs. Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) stalks and murders the teenagers preparing Camp Crystal Lake for re‑opening. She is determined to ensure the camp does not reopen, after her son Jason (Ari Lehman) drowned in the lake, due to the negligence of two staff members. The last counselor, Alice Hardy (Adrienne King), fends off Mrs. Voorhees long enough to grab a machete and decapitate her.[5] In Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), Jason (Steve Daskewisz/Warrington Gillette) is revealed to be alive and fully grown. After killing Alice Hardy, Jason returns to Crystal Lake to guard it from all intruders. Five years later, a group of teenagers arrive at Crystal Lake to set up a new camp, but Jason murders them. Ginny Field (Amy Steel), the last counselor Jason attempts to kill, finds a cabin in the woods with a shrine built around the severed head of Mrs. Voorhees. Ginny fights back and slams a machete through Jason's shoulder. Jason is left for dead as Ginny is taken away in an ambulance.[6] During the events of Friday the 13th Part III (1982), Jason (Richard Brooker) removes the machete from his shoulder and finds his way to Chris Higgins' (Dana Kimmell) local homestead. Chris returns to her property with some friends, and Jason kills anyone who wanders into the barn where he is hiding. Taking a hockey mask from a victim to hide his face, Jason leaves the barn to kill the rest of the group. Chris seemingly kills Jason with an axe to his head, but the night's events drive her into hysteria as the police take her away.[7]

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) continues where Part III leaves off, with Jason (Ted White) found by the police and taken to the local morgue after removing the axe. Upon arrival, Jason awakens to kill the coroner and a nurse before returning to Crystal Lake. A group of friends rent a house on Crystal Lake and fall victim to Jason's rampage. After killing the teens, Jason seeks out Trish (Kimberly Beck) and Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman), who live next door. While distracted by Trish, Jason is attacked and ultimately killed by Tommy.[8] Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) follows Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd), who was committed to a mental health institution after the events of The Final Chapter and grew up constantly afraid that Jason (Tom Morga) would return. Roy Burns (Dick Wieand) uses Jason's persona to become a copycat killer at the halfway home to which Tommy has moved. Tommy, supervisor Pam (Melanie Kinnaman), and a young boy named Reggie (Shavar Ross) manage to defeat Roy. They eventually learn that Roy had a son who was murdered by one of the patients at the institution, triggering Roy to take on Jason's likeness and kill everyone there.[9] Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) begins with Tommy (Thom Mathews) visiting Jason's grave after being released from another mental institution. Tommy inadvertently resurrects Jason (C. J. Graham) with a piece of the fence surrounding the cemetery acting as a lightning rod. Jason immediately heads back to Crystal Lake and kills the people working at the new summer camp. Tommy eventually chains Jason to a boulder that he tosses into the lake, where he leaves Jason to die.[10]

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) begins an indeterminate length of time after Jason Lives. Jason (Kane Hodder) is resurrected again, this time by the telekinetic Tina Shepard (Lar Park Lincoln), who is trying to resurrect her father who drowned in the lake when Tina was a child. Jason once again kills those who occupy Crystal Lake and is returned to the bottom of the lake after a battle with Tina.[11] Jason is resurrected again in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) by an underwater electrical cable. He follows a group of students on their senior class cruise to Manhattan, where he kills the ship's crew and the majority of the students. Upon reaching Manhattan, Jason chases Rennie (Jensen Daggett) and Sean (Scott Reeves), the two remaining students, into the sewers. Jason eventually melts away because the sewer is flooded with toxic waste.[12] In Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), Jason, through an unexplained resurrection, is hunted by the FBI at Crystal Lake. The FBI sets up a sting that successfully kills Jason. Through possession, Jason manages to survive by passing his black heart from one being to the next. It is revealed that he has a sister and a niece, and that he needs them to get his body back. Jason resurrects himself, but his niece, Jessica Kimble (Kari Keegan), stabs him with a mystical dagger and he is dragged into Hell.[13]

Jason X (2001) takes place in the future, when Jason has again been inexplicably resurrected. A scientist, Rowan LaFontaine (Lexa Doig), decides that cryonic suspension is the only method of stopping him, but Jason breaks free and kills the army personnel guarding him before he can be again imprisoned. Rowan manages to lure Jason into the cryo‑chamber, but he ruptures the tank and freezes both himself and Rowan. Over 400 years later, a team of students studying Earth discover Jason's body and take it into space. Upon being thawed by the team, he proceeds to murder everyone aboard the spacecraft. He is seemingly killed, but is then resurrected via nanotechnology as a cyborg version of himself. Finally, he is ejected into space and incinerated by Earth Two's atmosphere, his mask falling to the bottom of a lake.[14] The next Friday the 13th film, Freddy vs. Jason (2003), was a crossover with A Nightmare on Elm Street. Set in the contemporary period, Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) resurrects Jason (Ken Kirzinger) and sends him to Springwood hoping that he will create enough fear among the residents that Freddy will be strong enough to invade their dreams. Jason accomplishes this but refuses to stop killing. A battle ensues both in the dream-world and at Crystal Lake. The outcome is left ambiguous, as Jason surfaces from the lake holding Freddy's severed head, which winks and laughs.[15]

In 2009, a new Friday the 13th film which restarted the film series continuity was released. In this film, after witnessing his mother being beheaded at a young age, an adult Jason (Derek Mears) follows in her footsteps and kills anyone who comes to Crystal Lake. Jason subsequently kidnaps a young woman, Whitney Miller (Amanda Righetti), who resembles his mother at a young age. Six weeks after her disappearance, her brother, Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki), comes to look for her. The pair reunite and work together to seemingly kill Jason.[16]

Future

Shortly after the 2009 reboot's theatrical release, producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form expressed an interest in producing another Friday the 13th film, citing the enjoyment they had working on the reboot.[17] On October 1, 2009, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that it planned to release the Friday the 13th sequel on August 13, 2010.[18] Subsequently, on December 10, 2009, Warner Bros. announced that it had pulled the sequel from the August 13, 2010 release slot and listed its release as "TBD" (to be determined). Warner Bros. also announced that Damian Shannon and Mark Swift were penning the sequel.[19] On April 21, 2010, Fuller announced on his Twitter page that a sequel to the 2009 remake was no longer in the works, declaring it, "dead — not happening".[20] In a later interview, Fuller explained that the 2009 reboot was the result of a joint effort between Paramount and New Line Cinema, as both owned portions of the Friday the 13th franchise. With a down economy, both studios were limiting the films they produced each year, opting to produce films carrying lower risks and higher rewards. Accordingly, the companies put Friday the 13th Part 2 on hold in hopes that they would move forward with this next installment when the economy bounced back. Form explained that neither studio would walk away from the sequel's production to allow the other to move forward as the primary producing house, each studio concerned that its players would look like "idiots" should the sequel perform well without its involvement. Form and Fuller also mentioned that the Friday the 13th sequel may be a 3‑D film, should it ever again be green-lit for production by the studios.[21]

On February 1, 2011, Fuller announced via Twitter that Shannon and Smith had completed writing a script for the sequel. Fuller reported that he was ready to begin production, but that New Line Cinema was not.[22] On June 5, 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Warner Bros. had relinquished its film rights to the Friday the 13th series to Paramount as part of a deal that would allow Warner Bros. to co-produce Interstellar.[23] One week later, Derek Mears revealed that Paramount was working with Platinum Dunes to make a new installment "as fast as possible." [24] David Bruckner was set to direct the next installment of Friday the 13th.[25] After altering the release date numerous times, Paramount set the film for a Friday, May 13, 2016 release date.[26] In March 2015, it was announced that TV writer Nick Antosca would write the script.[27] On October 20, 2015, The Wrap reported that Paramount pushed back the film's release date to January 13, 2017.[28] On December 3, 2015, it was announced that Aaron Guzikowski was negotiating a deal to write a new script, but that Bruckner, who had purportedly left the project in 2015, would no longer be directing.[29] On May 31, 2016, Fuller revealed that the reboot would be an origin story for Jason, and his mother would be in the film.[30] On August 8, 2016, Variety reported that Breck Eisner was in talks to direct the reboot.[31] In September 2016, Paramount pushed back the reboot's release date from Friday, January 13, 2017 to Friday, October 13, 2017.[32]

On January 27, 2017, it was reported that the reboot's working title was Friday the 13th: Part 13, Platinum Dunes was looking for someone to play a young Jason Voorhees, and production would begin in March 2017, slated for a Friday, October 13, 2017 release date.[33][34][35] On February 6, 2017, it was announced that Paramount officially canceled the project due to the low box office grosses of Rings, and Paramount assigned the October 13, 2017 release date to its upcoming film, Mother!.[36] On October 10, 2017, Shannon and Swift revealed the title of their proposed sequel, Friday the 13th: Camp Blood – The Death of Jason Voorhees.[37] The rights to the franchise are slated to revert to New Line/Warner Bros. in 2018.[38] However, Victor Miller, who wrote the original Friday the 13th screenplay, asserted that Horror Inc. derived its current copyright to the screenplay from Miller's transfer of copyright to Horror Inc.'s predecessor-in-interest, the Manny Company. Miller sent a Notice of Termination to Horror Inc. on January 26, 2016, purportedly reclaiming his rights to the screenplay and the content contained therein through termination of the transfer of rights he had formerly made to the Manny Company.[39]

Original film producer Sean S. Cunningham claims that Miller wrote the screenplay for Friday the 13th as a work-made-for-hire for the Manny Company.[40] Under copyright law, an employer is considered the statutory author and copyright holder if a work is made in the employee's scope of employment. If, as Cunningham contends, Miller wrote the screenplay as the Manny Company's employee, he never held a copyright to the screenplay to transfer or reclaim.[41] A lawsuit seeking the parties' declaration of rights was filed in a federal court in Connecticut.[42] On September 28, 2018, Miller won the rights against Cunningham.[43] Cunningham appealed, the appeal was withdrawn due to technical reasons, and then reinstated by the deadline of April 12, 2019.[44]

By October 2018, LeBron James, through his production company Springhill Entertainment alongside Vertigo Entertainment, is in talks to co-produce the next film.[45] In following month, screenwriter Clint Ford has written the prequel screenplay for the franchise titled Friday the 13th: The Beginning, as reported by Ain't It Cool News.[46][47] In July 2019, Tom McLoughlin, writer and director of Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, revealed that he authored a spec script for a sequel film titled Jason Never Dies.[48][49] McLoughlin confirmed the film would have served as a direct sequel to Jason Lives, ignoring the other films in the franchise.[50]

TelevisionOn September 28, 1987,[51] Paramount began airing Friday the 13th: The Series, a television series that focuses on two cousins' attempts to recover cursed antiques that were sold from a shop they inherited from their uncle. The show starred John D. LeMay as Ryan Dallion and Louise Robey as Michelle Foster. It was created by Frank Mancuso, Jr. and Larry B. Williams originally under the title of The 13th Hour, and the series ran for 72 episodes. Mancuso, Jr. never intended to link the television show directly to the film series, but he utilized "the idea of Friday the 13th, which is that it symbolizes bad luck and curses". The creators wanted to tie‑in Jason's trademark hockey mask to the series, but the idea was discarded so that the show could have a chance to exist on its own. Mancuso, Jr. was afraid that mentioning any events from the films would take the audience away from "the new world that we were trying to create". The decision to name the show Friday the 13th over the original title was made because Mancuso, Jr. believed a "Friday the 13th" moniker would better help to sell the show to networks. Filming took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[2] Friday the 13th: The Series initially aired in first-run syndication in a late-night spot; the success of the series as a late-night show prompted some broadcasting stations to move it to primetime. Produced on a budget estimated below $500,000 per episode, the first season placed second in the male 18- to 49-year-old demographic, just behind Paramount's Star Trek: The Next Generation. In addition, the first season placed fifth in the female 18- to 49-year-old demographic.[52]

In September 2003, during a panel session at the Maniafest convention, Sean S. Cunningham spoke about the possibility of bringing Friday the 13th to television, with the series focusing on a group of teenagers living in the Crystal Lake area.[53] On October 22, 2005, Cunningham discussed the potential series further. He explained that the idea was to call the series Crystal Lake Chronicles, and "set [it] in a town with all this Jason history". The series would focus more on "coming-of-age issues", in a similar style to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson's Creek, and Smallville, with Jason as more of a recurring "background" character.[54]

In April 2014, it was announced that Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films and Crystal Lake Entertainment were planning to produce an hour-long Friday the 13th television series. The series is intended to focus on a group of characters at Crystal Lake, who have to deal with the return of Jason Voorhees, as well as discover new information about him and his family.[55] On August 2015, it was announced that the series was being developed by The CW. Steve Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle were hired to write the plot, while Sean S. Cunningham, Randall Emmett, George Furla and Mark Canton would be the executive producers.[56] In August 2016, the network announced that they decided to not move forward with the series. The CW president Mark Pedowitz explained, “We had better pilots. The bottom line is we felt we had stronger things to go with, and we didn’t go forward with it. It was well-written, it was darker than we wanted it to be, and we didn’t believe it had sustainability... We didn’t believe that it was a sustainable script, a sustainable series. It was a very good pilot, but not a sustainable series."[57]

Production

The original Friday the 13th was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, who had previously worked with filmmaker Wes Craven on The Last House on the Left (1972). Cunningham, inspired by the success of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), wanted Friday the 13th to be shocking, visually stunning, and "[make] you jump out of your seat". Distancing himself from The Last House on the Left, Cunningham wanted Friday the 13th to be more of a "roller coaster ride".[1] The first film was meant to be "a real scary movie", and at the same time make audiences laugh. The concept for Friday the 13th began as nothing more than a title. A Long Night at Camp Blood was the working title Victor Miller used while he drafted a script, but Cunningham believed in his "Friday the 13th" moniker and rushed to place an advertisement in International Variety. Worrying that someone else owned the rights to the title and wanting to avoid potential lawsuits, Cunningham thought it would be best to find out immediately. Cunningham commissioned a New York advertising agency to develop his visual concept of the Friday the 13th logo, which consisted of big block letters bursting through a pane of glass.[58] In the end, Cunningham believed there were "no problems" with the title, but distributor George Mansour contends that there was an issue: "There was a movie before ours called Friday the 13th: The Orphan. Moderately successful. But someone still threatened to sue. It is unknown whether Phil [Scuderi] paid them off, but the issue was eventually resolved."[59]

Following the success of Friday the 13th in 1980, Paramount Pictures began plans to make a sequel and immediately acquired the worldwide distribution rights. According to Paramount Pictures' Chairman and CEO Frank Mancuso, Sr., "We wanted it to be an event, where teenagers would flock to the theaters on that Friday night to see the latest episode." Initial ideas for a sequel involved the Friday the 13th title being used for a series of discontinuous films, released once a year, and each would be a separate "scary movie" of its own right. Phil Scuderi—a co‑owner of Esquire Theaters with Steve Minasian and Bob Barsamian and a producer of the original film—insisted that the sequel must have Jason Voorhees, Pamela's son, even though his appearance at the end of the original film was only meant to be a joke. Steve Miner, associate producer of the first film, believed in the idea, and he ultimately directed the first two sequels after Cunningham opted not to return to the director's chair.[60]

The studio continued to generate sequels over the years, based on the financial success they produced compared to their relatively low budgets. With every film repeating the same basic premise, the filmmakers came up with subtle adjustments so the audience would return. Changes involved the addition of a subtitle—as opposed to just a number attached to the end—like "The Final Chapter" and "Jason Takes Manhattan", or filming the movie in 3-D, as Miner did for Friday the 13th Part III.[61] The third film would also be the birthplace of one of the most recognizable images in popular culture, that of Jason's hockey mask.[4] Producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. eventually decided to kill Jason for good, after he experienced problems finding new films to produce that were more than just horror movies, because his name brought constant association to the Friday the 13th film series.[62]

Jason would not stay buried for long, as the success of The Final Chapter ensured another Friday the 13th film. Mancuso, Sr. stated, "Quite simply, the public still wanted to see these films. So until they really stopped coming, why not continue to make more?" A New Beginning shifted the focus of the story to the character of Tommy Jarvis and how he battles his inner demons, hallucinations, and "rages to kill" after his ordeal with Jason in The Final Chapter.[63] This premise was not repeated, as the very next installment brought Jason back from the dead. Jason Lives attempted to create a "funnier, faster, and more action-packed [...] Friday" than had previously been done.[64] The limited financial success of Jason Lives provided enough incentive to create another sequel, The New Blood. The idea proposed by screenwriter Daryl Haney stemmed from his realization that the films always ended with Jason battling the "final girl". Haney decided that this final girl should have telekinetic powers, which led Producer Barbara Sachs to dub the film, Jason vs. Carrie

Plans were made to take Jason away from Crystal Lake and place him in a larger environment for the eighth film. New York City was selected as the main setting, with Jason spending approximately a third of the movie on a boat before reaching New York. The film was then subtitled Jason Takes Manhattan. Ultimately, the character spent the majority of the time on the cruise ship, as budget restrictions forced scenes of New York to be trimmed or downgraded. Vancouver had to substitute for the majority of the New York scenes.[66]

When Jason Takes Manhattan failed to perform successfully at the box office, Sean Cunningham decided that he wanted to reacquire the rights to Friday the 13th from Paramount and start working with New Line Cinema on Freddy vs. Jason, as New Line owned the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The concept of a fight between Freddy and Jason was not new, since Paramount had approached New Line about filming a crossover years before the latter had gained the licensing rights to Friday the 13th. At that time, both companies wanted the license to the other's character so that they could control the making of the film. Negotiations on the project were never finalized, which led Paramount to make The New Blood. After Jason Takes Manhattan was released in 1989, the rights reverted to Scuderi, Minasian, and Barsamianto, who sold them to New Line. Before Cunningham could start working on Freddy vs. Jason, Wes Craven returned to New Line to make New Nightmare. This effectively put Freddy vs. Jason on hold, but allowed Cunningham the chance to bring Jason back into the spotlight with Jason Goes to Hell.[67] The ninth installment "turned a healthy profit", though it was only intended to open the door for a crossover with Freddy Krueger rather than to start a new series for New Line.[68] Ultimately, the film series would go through another sequel before that would happen.

Cunningham's "frustration" with the delayed development of the Freddy vs. Jason project forced him to create another sequel in an effort to keep the franchise in the minds of audiences. Based on Jason Takes Manhattan's concept of taking Jason away from Crystal Lake, the 10th film would put the titular character in space.[69] The film suffered from the loss of its biggest supporter, President of Production Michael De Luca, when he resigned from his position. Lack of support forced the finished film to sit for two years before finally being released on April 26, 2002, and it would go on to become the lowest-grossing film in the franchise at the domestic box office. It also held the distinction of having the largest budget of any of the previous films at that time.[70] After more than 15 years of off-and-on development, and approximately $6 million spent in 18 unused scripts from more than a dozen screenwriters, New Line finally produced a Freddy and Jason crossover for 2003. One of the biggest hurdles for the film was developing a story that managed to bring the two horror icons together. Potential stories varied widely, from Freddy having molested and drowned Jason as a child, to a cult of Freddy worshipers called the "Fred Heads".[71]

In January 2007, Platinum Dunes producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller outlined their intended goal to bring a Friday the 13th reboot to life. New Line approached Fuller and Form to create a reboot, but because Paramount still owned certain copyrights to the first film, the reboot would not be able to use anything from the original. Paramount, who wanted to be included in the development of a reboot, approached the producers and gave them license to use anything from the original films, including the title. With Paramount on board, Fuller and Form decided they wanted to use pieces from the early films. Fuller said, "I think there are moments we want to address, like how does the hockey mask happen."[72] Shannon and Swift, writers of Freddy vs. Jason, were brought on to pen the script for the new film,[73] with Marcus Nispel, director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake of 2003, hired in November 2007 to direct.[74]

Reception

Box office and reception

The Friday the 13th films generally received negative reception from professional critics, in contrast to other slashers like Halloween. Critics disliked how the series favored high body counts over plot and character development and how each film was almost indistinguishable from the last. Nevertheless, the films were a financial success, prompting Paramount to release more sequels contingent on the box office appeal.[75] When comparing Friday the 13th to the other top-grossing American slasher franchises—A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play, Halloween, the Hannibal Lecter series, Psycho, Saw, Scream, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—and adjusting for the 2018 inflation,[76] Friday the 13th is the second highest grossing horror franchise in the United States, with approximately $755.6 million.[77] A Nightmare on Elm Street follows with $592.8 million,[78] with the Hannibal Lecter film series closely behind with $588.7 million.[79] Then comes Halloween with $557.5 million,[80] Saw with $457.4 million,[81] Scream with $442.9 million,[82] Psycho with $376.3 million,[83] The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with $304.6 million,[84] and the Child's Play film series rounding out the list with approximately $203 million.[85] The financial success has extended to home release, with more than five million DVDs sold by 2005.[86]