Paramount still wanted to milk the franchise as much as it could and they figured the best way to rejuvenate the franchise would be to make an abrupt location change. Jason doesn’t need to stick to woods. He could invade the big city and he was intended to do just that in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
It’s actually a fairly brilliant idea and could’ve made for a great film if done right. The promotional material was there. A poster featuring Jason cutting through the “I Love New York” logo was a stroke of genius and it being pulled due to negative feedback was the free publicity a film dreams of.
The ultimate problem is that Jason doesn’t exactly take Manhattan. The bulk of the film takes place on a cruise ship and when we make it to New York a keen eye can tell we’re mostly not there. Some of it was shot in New York, with some cool scenes of Jason in the middle of Times Square, but a lot of it was filmed primarily in Vancouver. That’s not the biggest cheat since Vancouver can mimic New York well but ultimately we spend maybe ten minutes in Manhattan out of a film that runs 100 minutes.
The film grossed $6.2 million on opening weekend (surpassing its higher than normal $5 million budget) but really nosedived before finishing with a dismal $14.3 million, a franchise low at the time. It was trashed by critics of course and many fans consider it the worst of the films released during the Paramount era. That’s right folks, Paramount finally had enough with the franchise and this would be the last one they would release until the remake in 2009. There was still money to be made for them though and they made it by selling the rights of the franchise to New Line Cinema.
The New Line Cinema era is a low, in my opinion, for the franchise. The sale of rights wouldn’t yield a film of significance until 2003 with Freddy vs. Jason. Until then we had to suffer through Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday in 1993 and Jason X in 2003. The latter film has Jason going to space so you can see where the franchise was at by that time. These sequels have their fans (I’m not one of them) but the financial result for each film wasn’t huge. Jason Goes to Hell grossed $15.9 million on a $3 million budget, a profit for sure but box office expectations had grown once we entered the 90s. Jason X didn’t fare much better with $13.1 million on an $11 million budget. Both films were ripped apart by critics but this was the first time the franchise felt like it was on life support. It definitely needed an assist.
It came from Freddy himself and the long awaited match-up between him and Jason Voorhees. Since both icons were owned by the same studio now what felt like a dream in 1988, could now become a reality. The horror genre had seen a shift with Scream in 1996 and horror was hot again, even by 2003. It made sense to put these characters in a film with whip-smart characters who didn’t succumb to typical horror movie clichés. While the film isn’t perfect, it did what it needed to do to breathe life into both franchises.
Jason and Freddy were hot again as the film, which cost $30 million to make, grossed an impressive $114.9 million worldwide. These franchises have never seen grosses like this (unless you adjust for inflation) so it was definitely a sight to see as a fan of both series. What had come so low with Jason invading space, seemed high again.
I guess Paramount wanted in on that high because they wanted back in the game when it came time for the film to be remade in 2009. It became a joint venture with them and New Line Cinema and the result is a bit of a mixed bag. By the time the remake came out, remaking horror classics was becoming all the rage. Some did well while others faltered and this film lies squarely in the middle. Things start well enough (I love the intensity of the opening sequence before we get to the main story) but there is something too clean and sleek about the remake. It’s heavily produced and lacks the true DNA of the franchise. It seems made with the best intentions but the more you watch it you can tell the gain is more financial than producing a truly good product.
The remake did break some records during its release (it grossed $19 million on its opening night, the highest opening day of the franchise) and it went on to gross $40 million on its opening weekend (the highest opening weekend for a horror film at the time). The good news sort of stops there. While it is the highest grossing film of the franchise (other than Freddy vs. Jason) at $65 million, it dropped a massive 80.4% in week two, which sent it from first to sixth place in just a week. A film that opens to $40 million should see much more than the final result that this film came up with.
Will there be another Friday the 13th soon?
As of 2017, we come up on another year where we’re supposed to see a new film. Since the remake was released in 2009, we have seen many starts and stops. We have heard news of a sequel to the remake or just a complete re-do of the franchise to kick it off fresh. Whatever we end up with, it’s more important to appreciate the legacy of the franchise.
Although the films were not popular with critics, Friday the 13th is considered one of the most successful media franchises in America—not only for the success of the films but also because of the extensive merchandising and repeated references to the series in popular culture. They may not be perfect and they may not win any awards but they’re still a fun treat for fans of “check your brain at the door” horror.
Every Friday the 13th, I try to watch as many of them as I can, even the ones I don’t care for because I get a sense of nostalgia remembering when I was a kid and discovering them for the first time. It may not be the pinnacle of the horror genre but they still represent a fun way to celebrate one truly superstitious day.
