News
CW Actively Developing “Friday the 13th” Series
Confirming reports from this past March, the CW is heading to Crystal Lake.
The network topper Mark Pedowitz today confirmed that the CW is developing “Friday 13th,” a drama series based on the long-running feature franchise, reports Deadline.
The series adaptation will be written by Steve Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle, creators of the 1996 NBC series “The Pretender” through CBS TV Studios.
“They are new in development,” Pedowitz said.
The Friday The 13th series project originated last year when Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films and Crystal Lake Entertainment sealed a deal to produce a new hourlong dramatic series based upon the characters and settings of the franchise, with Sean S. Cunningham, who helmed the 1980 original, executive producing along with EFO Films principals Randall Emmett & George Furla and Mark Canton, among others.
Bill Basso (Terminator) and Jordu Schell (Avatar) were tapped at the time to script a storyline that re-imagines Jason in multiple time periods. Details on the remake are sketchy but the idea had been to do a contemporary series focusing on the eclectic characters of Crystal Lake who are forced to confront the return of the killer, as new secrets about his wacky family are revealed. The masked Jason is being reimagined with a stronger feel of grounded reality.
Paramount is currently developing the new movie that would put David Bruckner behind the camera. Here’s the latest update on that project, set for release on May 13, 2016.
I’m all for an expanded universe, but I’m nervous about it landing on CW. I don’t watch any of their shows and I can’t say anything there is made for me, which begs the question, why would they want to make “Friday the 13th”? As I stated many of times before, I sort of hope CW is going for more edge with all of the genre series they’ve announced. Otherwise, we’re looking at “Friday the 13th” in the vein of “iZombie.” Is that something you guys want? Talk below.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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