UnNews:Halloween update: David Gordon Green & Danny McBride to helm 11th slasher

Friday, February 10, 2017

Legendary slasher icon Michael Myers will return for a 40th anniversary Halloween film to be released next year.

HADDONFIELD, Illinois -- The last Halloween movie, Rob Zombie's much-detested Halloween II, was released August 28, 2009 and not a film since. That was almost 7 1/2 years ago -- or more specifically, 2,722 days ago and counting! [Credit where it's due -- A big thank you to http://www.mathcats.com/explore/elapsedtime.html for their elapsed time calendar. -Ed.] But luckily, that's not the last we'll see of Michael Myers. [Thank God. -Ed.]

The last update we gave you, back in May, was that John Carpenter would be returning as an executive producer, godfather, consultant, mentor and composer, collaborating with Jason Blum's Blumhouse. Prior to that announcement, the last word we had gotten was that the Weinsteins had lost the rights to the franchise after two decades. [The Weinsteins split from Miramax and formed The Weinstein Company in 2005. The Halloween rights reverted back to the formerly Disney-owned Miramax, now owned by BeIN Media Group. Bob and Harv have zero involvement in this or any future Halloween. Okay, I'll shut up now. -Ed.]

Now, finally, we can tell you who will be tackling this "recalibration" (if that's still what they're calling this latest film). You probably won't believe me, but Carpenter and the suits have announced that weed comedy filmmakers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride will be writing and directing the next installment -- Green directing, and Green and McBride co-writing and producing through their Rough House Pictures. The film will be released October 19, 2018 -- which, according to the much-detested Halloween: Resurrection, will be Michael Myers's 61st birthday. It will also coincide with the 40th anniversary of the original classic.

Now, back to Green and McBride. Before anyone makes a crack about Halloweed 420, the duo says that "no one will be laughing." That's good news. The last thing we need is Scary Movie with Michael Myers. Besides, the Weinsteins (apparently?) still own the rights to that shitty franchise. Green and McBride's comedy background may be alarming to some, but just remember that people bitched about Michael Keaton -- the guy from Mr. Mom and Beetlejuice -- playing Batman. And Steven Spielberg followed up The Sugarland Express with Jaws.

Hell, Carpenter's first film (post-film school) was a comedy! It was called Dark Star. It was basically a comedic version of what would become Alien.

This looks very promising so far. We'll keep you updated, as always.

Sources

• Ben Tramer "New ‘Halloween’ movie taps director David Gordon Green, writer Danny McBride" Variety, February 9, 2017