The Friday the 13th franchise has been undergoing turmoil for almost 10 years now, in 2017 a game dedicated specifically to Jason Voorhees was released but was abandoned by the developers due to the ongoing lawsuit between the screenwriter of the first film and the director, in fact that game was also removed from steam in December 2023 and can no longer be purchased.
A few months ago a fan-made version of that game was then announced that modified it in many aspects and also added a lot of content that was never officially released, but shortly after that there was news that that game was shut down by Horror Inc. due to copyright issues (despite the fact that the game was actually going to be released for free and would not be released on steam but on private servers).
A few months ago a fan-made version of that game was then announced that modified it in many aspects and also added a lot of content that was never officially released, but shortly after that there was news that that game was shut down by Horror Inc. due to copyright issues (despite the fact that the game was actually going to be released for free and would not be released on steam but on private servers).
Then there was another negative news that happened a few weeks ago that was later marginally corrected by other sources, namely the cancellation of the prequel TV series called Crystal Lake produced by A24 and on which Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) was working on as a screenwriter. The latter in fact dropped out of the production of the TV series, and what initially seemed to be a total cancellation of the product, actually turned out to be precisely a departure of the main screenwriter of the series (although unfortunately this is still quite bad news because it means that the series is still stuck in pre-production).
So after a whole series of negative news, fans of the Friday the 13th saga have totally lost hope by writing on socials that Jason Voorhees is now dead and will never return.
Like a thunderbolt, a few hours ago, Horror Inc. released through IGN an incredible statement, Jason Voorhees and thus the Friday the 13th saga will return under a new name: Jason Universe, and that it will be a complete relaunch that will bring new content such as Movies, TV Series, Video Games, Merchandise and much more.
The name change to the franchise is probably due to the legal battle that Victor Miller (the screenwriter of the first film) and Sean Cunnigham (the director of the films) had to face.
To explain further in fact, a few years ago the court agreed with Victor Miller by ruling that the screenplay of the first Friday the 13th movie was his and therefore everything about the characters and the story of the first movie belonged to him, including Jason's name and even his mother, what however belongs to the director instead are jason's mask, the name of the saga (friday the 13th) and the features of adult jason.
Also, just to complicate things some more, Cunningham holds the rights to the franchise overseas, so even if Miller wanted to produce new Jason Voorhees content, he could only distribute it within the United States.
To make a long story short then, without an agreement between the two it becomes very difficult to have new products from the saga.
Now we come to the Jason Universe, which is in collaboration with Victor Miller itself, but the announcement is made with even an image of the famous Jason Voorhees mask, so it means that maybe there was an agreement with the director as well to allow this, or they will simply create a new mask for Jason that will be introduced right in the Prequel TV series currently in production:
"For decades, Jason has shocked and thrilled audiences who kept coming back for more. We are excited to work with Victor Miller and Marc Toberoff on new projects that we will be announcing in the coming months," said Robert Barsamian, president of Horror, Inc. in a statement provided to IGN.
Robbie Barsamian, VP of Horror, Inc. added, "We are focused on honoring the legacy while enhancing the fan experience and attracting today's horror audience as we develop new ways to watch, interact and engage with the Jason universe."
"With the unique ability to remain at the forefront of pop culture for 44 years, Jason continues to climb the charts as one of the scariest villains of all time with a strong global awareness across multiple generations thanks to billions of views on TikTok in addition to millions upon millions of gamers and movie fans," said Sheri Conn, Global GM of Horror, Inc. "We look forward to introducing the new Jason Universe activations to these amazing fans."
If all goes well then, new products based on the iconic Hockey-masked killer will be announced during 2024, and my guess is that we can expect the latter to arrive in Dead by Daylight as well.
In fact, Mathieu Cote, the game's game director, has always said that he would love to collaborate with that franchise but that they have never done so yet because of the legal issues surrounding it.
With this new reboot of the saga then, it certainly opens up hopes to see Jason as the new Dead by Daylight killer.
In addition to the possible arrival of Jason Voorhees on Dead by Daylight, apparently something is also moving concerning Fortnite, after it has already arrived on Multiversus as well, the Warner Bros free-to-play game that which was released on May 28:
And apparently it is coming to Fortnite as well, in fact after a teaser posted by the very official Jason Universe page in response to another tweet:
🫥
— Jason Universe (@JasonUniverse13) June 4, 2024
The first leaked images of Jason Voorhees within the game have been released:
We know. pic.twitter.com/eV8WVPY6VY
— Fortnite Leaks | Pluto V2 (@FortnitePV2) June 4, 2024
So this shows that the revival of the brand is happening aggressively by accepting as many collaborations as possible to revive the popularity of Jason Voorhees especially among younger people, since the last movie is 15 years old.
It is also now practically certain that Jason Voorhees will also be coming to Dead by Daylight, as I anticipated weeks ago, it's just a matter of time.
Remember to follow LBD on socials to stay informed about this and more:
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