Blumhouse Productions boss Jason Blum says his company has discussed making new installments of the Hellraiser and Scream horror franchises. With the possible exception of Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema arm - the studio behind IT and The Conjuring universe - there’s no more prominent producer of theatrical horror films today than Blumhouse. The roster of hit properties boasted by Blumhouse is quite impressive, including the Insidious, Sinister, The Purge, Happy Death Day, and Paranormal Activity franchises, as well as standalone successes like Get Out.
Last year, Blumhouse briefly departed from its winning strategy of creating new horror franchises that earn huge profits for low costs to try and resurrect the once-dominant Halloween slasher franchise. Michael Myers hadn’t terrorized audiences since 2009, and Rob Zombie’s Halloween II hadn’t been a huge hit. Thankfully, Blumhouse’s magic worked just as well on a classic as it does on fresh material, earning positive reviews from both fans and critics, and hauling in over $250 million worldwide on a budget of $10 million.
With Halloween’s success now in the rearview mirror - and Blum making it clear that he’s trying hard to make a sequel happen - it looks like Blumhouse is considering lending their signature touch to the Hellraiser and Scream franchises. Blum tells Cinema Blend that making new installments in both series has been discussed, although he cautions that fans shouldn’t get their hopes up too high yet, as no movement is actively happening on a Blumhouse revival of either property. Read his full quote below.
If Blumhouse does eventually find a way to make a new Hellraiser movie, it would probably be the exact thing that formerly celebrated franchise needs. Hellraiser - and its lead villain, the Cenobite known as Pinhead - have been residing in direct-to-video purgatory since 2000’s Hellraiser: Inferno. The two most recent installments - 2011’s Hellraiser: Revelations and 2018’s Hellraiser: Judgment - were even more low-budget than prior entries, and saw genre icon Doug Bradley decline to reprise his signature role. Various versions of a Hellraiser remake/reboot have been stuck in development hell for years, including one written by creator Clive Barker himself. Blumhouse could finally manage to rescue Hellraiser from its own perdition.
Yes, we definitely have [discussed it]. We’re looking - there’s nothing happening with either one of those things - but we’re definitely looking at it, and it’s definitely something I’d be open to.
As for Scream, more than one cast member has said they would be up for reprising their classic roles in a Scream 5, but it also seems to be a fairly unanimous sentiment that such a sequel just wouldn’t be the same without the now deceased Wes Craven at the helm. Thus, if Blumhouse really does eventually want to bring Scream back to theaters, it would probably be best to completely reboot the continuity and craft a new murder mystery in the same vein. Scream’s most recent incarnation was an MTV TV series that ignored the original films, so such a move wouldn’t be without precedent.
More: The Real Life Inspirations Behind 11 Horror Movie Icons
Source: Cinema Blend
