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That above headline pretty much sums up the most recent developments in the seemingly never-ending battle between Friday the 13th producer (and the original film’s director) Sean Cunningham and screenwriter-for-hire Victor Miller, who penned the very first film in the Friday franchise. We’ve been following this one closely for all of our horror movie fans out there and has it been one heck of a ride…
According to our encyclopedic friends in all things horror over at Bloody Disgusting News, breaking news in the legal battle for Friday the 13th went down like a well-swung machete late in the day yesterday after what appeared to be literally years of a deadlock between the “fathers” of the bloody and storied franchise, Sean Cunningham and Victor Miller.
In a neat twist that you just cannot make up, one of Friday the 13th Part III’s stars Larry Zerner is now a respected entertainment lawyer in Hollywood and he’s followed the myriad of twists in this case since the start, breaking down the nitty gritty for all of the fans of the twelve film saga in a way that’s made it understandable for those of us out there who didn’t serve a life sentence at Harvard Law. So what precisely went down yesterday to finally cede full control of the original script and all of the ideas and concepts therein to one Mr. Victor Miller? According to Zerner…nothing went down at all, and that’s made all the difference apparently.
Zerner noted that the case between Cunningham/Horror Inc. and Miller is now over after the former failed to file a cert petition by yesterday’s 4 pm deadline: “It’s 4 pm,” Zerner said in an on-the spot statement, “and I still don’t see a cert petition filed with the Supreme Court in the Friday the 13th case. What does this mean? Well, it means the case is officially over and Victor Miller owns the rights to his screenplay in F13 (but only in the US).”
Of course, what all intrepid Friday the 13th fans really want to know once you wade through the legal jargon is when can they expect to see a new Friday film featuring everyone’s favorite psychopath, Jason Voorhees? As with many things in life, it’s not as cut and dried as we might like it to be. Many feel Cunningham’s inaction yesterday could indicate that the two opposing sides are actually sitting down privately to reach (if they haven’t already) a resolution that would satisfy everyone’s interests. Zerner supports this notion, calling such a theory “likely.”
Yesterday’s surprise win for Miller does not give the scribe – who undertook his Friday script as a writer for hire back in 1979 –the legal rights to now run out and make his own film, at least internationally. In what some might refer to as a “Catch-22,” Miller only has U.S. rights to make a movie, and said hypothetical movie could only be based off of his own original script, discounting the eleven movies which came after and of which he had no hand in creating. International makes up a tremendous amount of the final box-office tally, meaning that no major film studio would want such a small piece of pie. In other words, it’s all or nothing.
Sean Cunningham still retains the full rights to the iteration of Jason that came after the first film, though the loss of his hockey masked killer’s origin and backstory from the first film seems to render any use of him nearly moot, sans some really creative writing. To make the legal morass slightly more confusing, Cunningham would still need to seek permission from Miller in order to use Jason at all in a new movie; wait, does someone know where I keep my Anacin?
Like most legal battles over copyright, it’s a big old can of worms that even Sherlock Holmes would have difficulty following. The best news out of this – if you’re a glass half-full sort – is that Cunningham’s failure to file yesterday is indeed a very strong indicator that these two warring gents may finally be smoking the peace pipe and working out a mutually beneficial deal where they both profit and the fans finally get a new Friday the 13th movie. WHEW!
Keep those camp counsellor eyes and ears peeled to Vents for further updates on the battle for Friday the 13th!
