David Gordon Green's Halloween is getting ready to set the world on fire. In a little more than a month the film will be hitting theaters, and in the wake of monster recent hits like Get Out and IT the horror blockbuster is expected to explode at the box office. More than that, it should also continue changing studio perspectives on certain franchises -- and in the case of Miramax, which produced 2018's Halloween, that includes Hellraiser and Scream. When I brought up those particular titles yesterday during an interview with CEO Bill Block, he told me,
[Halloween] was a Miramax license, and you'll see more of these coming from the studio now... I will have some things to share with you. You mentioned something there that we're working on - two things in there that we're working on. This is going to be a part of the new program.
Miramax previously made three Halloween films -- The Curse of Michael Myers, H20 and Resurrection -- and it was partnering with Blumhouse Productions and Malek Akkad's Trancas International Films that paved the way for the creation of the new movie. With the new title generating some massive buzz, confidence is high in the genre, and it's clearly getting some gears turning at the studio concerning some of their most notable franchises. And while there isn't anything official to announce just yet involving Hellraiser and Scream, Bill Block noted that there are definitely behind-the-scenes developments.
Both franchises are famously beloved within the horror fan community, but as brands they are surprisingly different. Launched in 1987 by writer/director Clive Barker, Hellraiser has a pop culture profile that is more on the "cult following" side of things, and is also far more expansive -- with not only 10 movies but also novels and comics delving into the sadomasochistic themes. The most recent title, Gary J. Tunnicliffe's Hellraiser: Judgment, actually went direct-to-video earlier this year, but these new plans from Miramax are presumably aiming for a theatrical release.
Scream, meanwhile, was a product of the 1990s, created as a post-modern take on the slasher genre, and is recognized as more populist horror. Three of the four films released topped $160 million worldwide, and one of the most notable aspects of the series is that Wes Craven directed all of the sequels. Of course, that would be a tradition that would end should the franchise continue with another chapter, given that Craven passed away in 2015. Scream 4 was only released seven years ago, but the brand has more recently been active on the small screen, with a third season of the MTV show scheduled to start up later this year.
Clearly we're going to have to wait for more information about these developments, but it's noteworthy that this isn't the first time in recent weeks that Scream has surfaced within the larger Halloween-centric conversation. Producer Jason Blum has name-dropped the franchise as something he'd love to become involved with in the future, but cited difficulties with rights -- so perhaps it's just a matter of him sitting down with Bill Block and having a conversation about the future that could make those hopes reality.
CinemaBlend will keep a close eye on these projects as they start to solidify, so stay tuned for the latest updates -- and be on the lookout for more from my interview with Bill Block in the coming weeks.
