Among Blumhouse’s many genre-bend wins, Christopher Landon’s corner just might be the most fun. The writer/director behind the Happy Death Day movies starring Jessica Rothe recently took a twisted turn with the release of Freaky, a body-swap storyline about a shy teen girl who switches bodies with a serial killer named the Blissfield Butcher. Since the release of Freaky, some fans have been thinking about how the two franchises could be perfect for a crossover.
Happy Freaky Death Day, anyone? So here’s the thing, the filmmaker has already confirmed that he believes Jessica Rothe’s Tree and Kathryn Newton’s Millie could easily exist in the same “spiritual universe” full of magical stakes, time loops and parallel universes. And when I recently had the chance to speak to Jessica Rothe in anticipation for her upcoming romance film All My Life, the actress was pumped about the crossover idea too. As she put it:
That would be so insane and so much fun. I’m down. Here’s the thing, like anything that Chris [Landon] comes up with or CinemaBlend pitches it just sounds like a fun, wonderful romp. I think one of the things I love so much about the Happy Death Day movies and what was infused into Freaky, even though it was in such a new and inventive way is those worlds are so fun and filled with humor and heart. Both of those movies have so much heart even though they are funny, dark and so twisted and that’s the reason I think they could overlap. And there is that little bit of unexplained magic, sci-fi twistiness, so I can totally see how maybe Tree and Millie figure some shit out together.
See, Jessica Rothe gets it. Although each of the films have their own charm and storylines, they do share a common thread that could theoretically make for a unique crossover movie. They already have a ton of fun with their own concepts; imagine if body swaps entered Tree’s world or time travel entered Millie’s? The potential is pretty much endless and strangely palpable. Rothe went on to share her own reaction to Freaky itself:
I love [Freaky] so much and I also just love Chris Landon, and I love his brain. And I feel so honored that both Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn are my fellow scream queens. Like the fact that Vince Vaughn is a scream queen is one of my favorite things in the world. I think they were absolutely astounding in the film. It’s so much fun, they really blew me away.
While the body swap magic at the end of Freaky may cause some constraints for a Freaky sequel on its own (which there's been talk about making, by the way), the time twist of the Happy Death Day films could fix that right up. Jessica Rothe sounds smitten with Freaky and really just up to follow Chris Landon down any rabbit hole he decides to go down. Though, the priority when it comes to Tree is most definitely the intended end of the trilogy Landon is calling Happy Death Day To Us.
Although 2017’s Happy Death Day was a massive hit, the second movie didn’t make as much as the original, and thus a third movie is up in the air for the moment. Producer Jason Blum is reportedly still really invested in finishing out the Happy Death Day movies. Rothe also provided CinemaBlend with an update on the third movie when I asked how far along the movie is:
I have never read [a script]. I have heard Chris’ ideas. I don’t think he’s written it but I have no idea because he’s such an incredible, fast writer so I wouldn’t be surprised. I think both of us just really feel that we would love to finish the trilogy and finish Tree’s story, but at the end of the day we only want to do it if we can do it right. I think we owe the fans that and we owe Tree that, so it’s just a matter of figuring out if and when that right time is.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see! What do you think about Happy Death Day and Freaky crossing over? Vote in the poll below and check out Rothe’s new movie All My Life in theaters on December 4.
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