There are few things Hollywood loves more than an established IP, which is why there’s always a loud clanging of excitement every time the rights to a franchise go up for sale. The loudest of those recent clangs was, of course, the James Bond franchise, which was purchased by Amazon, but in the background, there’s been another clang emanating from a classic horror franchise. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre rights are apparently back with the original owners and being shopped after Legendary decided not to renew, and there are several big names starting to flirt, including Glen Powell.
The Hollywood Reporter claims the actor, who is steadily ascending to A-Lister, is involved in a package that includes director JT Molner and producer Roy Lee. World Of Reel claims if they secure the rights, they might work with A24 to make it. That seems like a natural fit given the studio’s elevated horror background, but Powell and company apparently aren’t the only suitors in town. Andy Muschietti, who made the recent It adaptations, as well as The Flash (which I still think is good), is also said to be interested in a remake. It’s unclear what producers and/ or studio he might get involved with, but I’m sure plenty would line up to get in business with him on a classic horror franchise like this.
The rights to these types of franchises are very complicated and can be sold in a number of ways. Sometimes the original rights holders sell off everything in its entirety. Sometimes they simply sell the rights to make movies for a specific period of time, which can be extended if films are consistently made, and sometimes the owners stay very involved and produce themselves, as part of a more collaborative process. Right now, it’s unclear what producer Pat Cassidy, screenwriter Kim Henkel and son Ian Henkel want to do, but they’ve enlisted the agency Verve to get some options.
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an all-time fantastic genre movie that is revered by millions of hardcore horror fans. Eight sequels have been made over the years since the 1974 original, and there have been multiple attempts to reboot the franchise entirely, including once in the early 2000s by Michael Bay with Jessica Biel as the lead, but unfortunately, none have been able to recapture the magic of the original. I think the franchise can be rebooted for a more modern audience, but it’s going to need to take a strong adaptation and positive word of mouth since there’s not the same level of name recognition amongst casuals that many other classic horror franchises have.
I don’t know if Glen Powell is going to end up with the rights here, but I love that he’s interested enough in a horror deep cut like this to make a play. Sometimes when people’s careers are taking off, they’re exclusively focused on making the biggest possible studio-driven event films that will lead to the most money and in theory, the most star power. The best path to having a long career in Hollywood, however, is to do some of that but also mix in passion projects and buzzy genre movies so you can hit on a variety of fronts and no one gets sick of you doing the same thing. It's nice to see Powell doing that.
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