The "Friday the 13th" legal battle

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  • The "Friday the 13th" legal battle

    Is anyone here following the "Friday the 13th" legal battle?

    In a quick nutshell: Victor Miller (screenwriter of the first film) was apparently not invited back to write Part II by Sean Cunningham (Producer).

    Fast-forward 35 years later - Miller filed a "Notice of Copyright Termination" to Cunningham to get his creation back. Cunningham, in turn, took him to court to try to stop him. Miller won rights within the USA to characters/settings from the JUST the first film, while Cunningham retained the remaining parts of the franchise. Cunningham then quickly filed an appeal - which meant the franchise status could be dragged out for YEARS.

    But last month, Cunningham withdrew his appeal for "technical purposes," stating a better appeal could be filed - but he hasn't re-filed the appeal yet.

    The deadline for Cunningham to refile the appeal is Close of Business TODAY.

    Any thoughts on where this franchise will go? After the '09 "reboot-but-not really-a-reboot" misfire, coupled with the HUGE recent success of Horror franchises (Halloween, Us, etc.), a settlement/agreement sooner than later seems to make the most sense for all involved.

    Especially considering Jason Voorhees is arguably the most iconic slasher villain in horror franchise history, you'd think they'd want to get this cash cow from "out to pasture," and back to raking in the dough.

    It's a very interesting subject. Interested to hear my fellow film scribes' thoughts.
    - Skunk
    Last edited by Cokeyskunk; 04-12-2019, 05:19 AM.

  • #2
    Re: The "Friday the 13th" legal battle

    I hear about this stuff for years and as a huge F13 fan -- we just want more films. Horror is on fire and yet we haven't had a new F13 film in 10 years? Makes no sense!

    So I just want them to give them cuts of the next movie and let's get it going again. Jason is ready!

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    • #3
      Re: The "Friday the 13th" legal battle

      Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea of this legal battle. I wonder if the creation of Jason as the iconic hockey mask killer is at the center of the dispute. I did a quick search of the original Friday the 13th screenplay, and no mention is made of a hokey mask anywhere. "Jason" is only mentioned as a hallucination of the mother and we see him as a little boy. In the wikipedia page it says "Jason was not originally intended to carry the series as the main antagonist." And also "The trademark hockey goalie mask did not appear until Friday the 13th Part III".
      Manfred Lopez Grem
      WGA Writer - Director | Zero Gravity Management

      REEL - IMDB

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      • #4
        Re: The "Friday the 13th" legal battle

        Originally posted by manfredlopez View Post
        Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea of this legal battle. I wonder if the creation of Jason as the iconic hockey mask killer is at the center of the dispute. I did a quick search of the original Friday the 13th screenplay, and no mention is made of a hockey mask anywhere. "Jason" is only mentioned as a hallucination of the mother and we see him as a little boy. In the wikipedia page it says "Jason was not originally intended to carry the series as the main antagonist." And also "The trademark hockey goalie mask did not appear until Friday the 13th Part III".
        The image of the "monstrous Jason" (i.e., adult-sack-wearing-or-hockey-mask-wearing Jason) is currently considered part of Cunningham's property. So essentially, what we have here is two owners both holding half the parts of a full franchise. They're in a "poker game" right now, each holding great cards in his deck.

        The only way out of this is an agreement or settlement.

        And thankfully, it looks like it's headed that direction:

        https://twitter.com/Zernerlaw/status...11973920325632

        Once this is all settled, Victor Miller has said he'd like to see the franchise reboot with a prequel to Part 1, then remake Part 1. THEN continue the franchise in a more realistic way - eliminating all the "zombie" hokey crap that squeezed its way into the franchise from the past.

        Thoughts on that?

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