Just a week after the original Friday the 13th director teased what appeared to be a long-awaited 13th installment to the franchise, movie studio New Line Cinema is already hinting at what very well may be the horror icon Jason Vorhees’ return to cinema screens.
In a tongue-in-cheek Instagram post, the movie studio posted a photo of a phone lock screen with a notification that “Jason Voorhees Wants to send you a message.”
“Uh oh. What do you think Jason Voorhees wants?” New Line Cinema captioned the post.
The number 13 has proved to be serendipitous indeed, as that is also how many years have passed since the previous installment in the franchise, with 2009’s reboot attempt Friday the 13th.
Following a messy and lengthy court battle between original Friday the 13th director, Sean Cunningham, and the 1980 film’s screenplay writer, Victor Miller, over various rights issues, it would appear the pair have worked out some kind of agreement to finally let a follow-up film proceed after development stagnated during the course of the legal proceedings.
This latest social media tease comes after Cunningham’s bio was updated on Cameo to include that a 13th Friday the 13th installment is “scheduled for next year.”
Though a judge ultimately ruled that Miller owns the rights to the original movie’s screenplay, Cunningham still retains “the character of adult Jason Voorhees,” according to Bloody Disgusting.
When you consider that the killer in the first film was actually Jason’s mother, it makes total sense that the hulking hockey mask-wearing character who became the main antagonist as the adult Jason in future installments — for movies that were not penned by Miller — would be considered a different piece of intellectual property entirely.