Movies
LeBron James In Talks to Produce ‘Friday the 13th’ Reboot [Exclusive]
LeBron James is slashing his way through Hollywood.
Having already attached himself to produce the hotly anticipated sequel to Space Jam, the active NBA superstar-turned-producer is heading to Camp Crystal Lake.
Bloody Disgusting is exclusively hearing that James and his SpringHill Entertainment is currently in talks with Vertigo Entertainment to produce a reboot of Friday the 13th.
After Halloween’s mega $70M+ opening this past weekend, a new Friday the 13th is a no-brainer, especially when you consider James’ popularity combined with the massive horror experience of Vertigo, who was behind last year’s Stephen King adaptation of IT, as well as The Ring, The Strangers, and The Grudge.
This is a match made in heaven. James is said to be a huge horror fan and, if you recall, James slayed last year’s Halloween with his legendary Pennywise costume and even released Friday the 13th-themed sneakers. (There was also that one time he rocked a Jason Voorhees mask while driving.)
Friday the 13th! Jason Vorhees is one of my favorites. Still don’t understand how he caught people running and he just walked though.
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 13, 2010
This news comes on the heels of original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller prevailing out of a lengthy legal battle in which U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill granted summary judgment in favor of Miller and against the producers, Horror, Inc. While the latter is appealing, Miller currently has the U.S. rights to Friday the 13th, which include the locations and characters within the story.
In the 1980 film directed by Sean S. Cunningham, a mother gets revenge on camp counselors after their neglect results in the death of her son, Jason.
With the powerhouses involved in the next film, we’re looking at what could become the biggest horror film of all time.
Two things that have proven to be pretty dependable at the box office in recent years are horror movies and Christopher Nolan movies. With Nolan’s The Odyssey absolutely dominating the box office this past weekend, many fans of Nolan’s work have been left hungry for a Nolan-directed horror movie. After all, The Odyssey does whet the appetite for Nolan nightmare fuel.
Christopher Nolan has brushed up against the horror genre in the past with 2002 thriller Insomnia, but does he have any interest in someday making a full-on horror movie?
Nolan tells the Empire Podcast in a new chat, “I’ve always been interested in doing a horror film.”
“But horror is most successful when the conceptual framework of whatever the story is is just so undeniable. I think there are very few really great horror movies,” Nolan continues.
So why hasn’t Christopher Nolan directed a horror movie yet?
He explains to Empire, “I’ve never clicked with a particular idea or concept that worked for me. I love the genre. Of all genres, it’s the most visceral. Where the direct response to the audience is the most important. That is to say, you’re trying to make people literally feel something in their bones about what’s going on on-screen.”
Nolan calls horror “a genre in which experimentation is demanded.” He explains, “I go to see a lot of horror films with my kids these days, and you’ll see things in the first half an hour, 45 minutes of any horror film that you’d never see in another genre. Risks that are taken. Dangerous approaches to things. Admittedly, a lot of movies can’t sustain that to the end. But in the horror genre, that kind of innovation is not just respected – it’s really demanded.”
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is now playing in theaters.
Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
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