After a six year break, Michael Myers will be returning home very soon.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a new Halloween movie is in the works at the Dimension films. The film will be written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunsta, both of whom were behind the last four entries in the Saw franchise.
The last time we saw Michael Myers was in Halloween II, the sequel to the remake directed by Rob Zombie. It doesn’t appear that this new Halloween will be a continuation of that franchise, but according to The Hollywood Reporter the movie is being called not a remake or a reboot but a “recalibration.” So is it a continuation of Halloween II, in which case it’s a sequel, or is it the start of a new series, in which case it’s a reboot? What exactly is a recalibration?
Either way, the new movie will be carrying over some talent from the last batch of movies, with Malek Akkad signing on as producer. Akkad also produced the two Rob Zombie films and has been involved in the franchise as an associate producer since Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers in 1995.
It would make sense to reboot the franchise. The recent Rob Zombie remake in 2007 did pretty well for the studio, grossing $80 million at the box office according to Box Office Mojo. That makes it the highest grossing Halloween film in the series. The sequel, though, dropped down to $39 million, somewhat of a disappointment for the studio. It would make sense creatively too, as the most recent outing was so insane that it’s hard to imagine where to go from there.
The new Halloween "recalibration" will be the 11th film in the franchise which began nearly 40 years ago with the brilliant John Carpenter film. It spawned eight sequels, not counting the two Rob Zombie ones. Over the course of the franchise, as was often the case with these movies, the series pretty much spiraled out of control, full of twists and strange moments and weird cults until Halloween: Resurrection killed the franchise in 2002. But the original movie helped create an entire genre, and horror really wouldn't be the same without it, so it would be interesting to see a truly great new version of it in the 21st century.
Halloween was one of several horror franchises to be rebooted in the 21st century that didn’t quite catch on. We also saw the reboot of Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and while both were moderate successes, neither received a single sequel compared to the countless sequels of the originals. If we can see Paranormal Activity sequels year after year, why has it been so hard for a studio to get a solid slasher franchise off the ground to launch a consistent new series? Could this new Halloween be the one to do it?