The Jason Universe

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A long time ago, the WWE decided to stop calling their fans… fans. They instead called them the WWE Universe, some backward corporate jargon that always sounded insulting and stupid to me. With that being said, I have a bit of a bias towards the word, so it doesn’t help that following the Friday the 13th/Jason Voorhees lawsuit, the owners of the hockey mask wearing character of Jason Voorhees decided to brand their venture The Jason Universe, which sounds like some sort of NFT scam.

Announced last May, The Jason Universe by Horror Inc. initially sounded like the true rebirth of Jason. This “multi-platform expansion” of the character was announced to bring Jason back to the cultural zeitgeist through a television show, new movies, games, and collectibles. The initial reaction was, “Heck ya, we’re getting more Jason finally” but a year later, this new approach is starting to feel more like a private equity firm trying to milk an IP with no real intention of providing the fans with anything worthwhile.

In May 2024, Sean S. Cunningham said that a new Friday the 13th movie would not be released for at least three years, because movie studios were hesitant to fund a horror movie which may not be a financial success. What a load of crap. Seriously? Horror has always been cheap to make, and easy to profit from, and an established character like Jason, who hasn’t graced the big screen in sixteen years would certainly make its budget back as long as they didn’t do something stupid like go huge on CGI or bring in Tom Cruise. To put things into perspective, despite coming out in 2009 when slashers were considered dead, the reboot of Friday the 13th had a budget of $19 million dollars, and went on to make $92.7 million dollars. You’re telling me no one is willing to spend $20 million on a new Friday the 13th? Heck, I’m pretty sure a quick call to Jason Blum of Blumhouse would get you at least $20 million.

The latest sequel to Final Destination, which came out fourteen years after the last entry had a budget of $50 million and went onto make $280 million. It also featured a ton of CGI and a much larger cast of characters and locations than any Friday the 13th movie would ever need to have. So, yea… that comment doesn’t make any sense.

A few days ago, Variety reported that a “short-form vignette” featuring Jason was coming from director Mike P. Nelson (who directed the remake of Wrong Turn). This “short-form vignette” will serve as “the centerpiece of the franchise’s bold 45th anniversary campaign.” That all sounds awesome. I mean, who doesn’t want a short film starring Jason? Well… this “short-form vignette” sounds like it’s a commercial for Angry Orchard Hard Cider who is sponsoring the video. So, yep, our first peak at the new Jason (which looked like it was designed by AI) will be in a commercial for alcohol.

I guess I should be thankful, because outside of a house at Halloween Horror Nights and some new toys, the only thing else Jason related that is coming out is the prequel series on Peacock. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about the series, but as mentioned this is a prequel, which means hockey mask wearing Jason won’t be making an appearance, unless they get real crazy with the storyline. Luckily, the team behind the camera seems dedicated to the franchise and I’m hoping things turn out well.

Recently, I mentioned my experience with Friday the 13th, and how Jason isn’t my favorite slasher, but in a way he’s the one I’m most excited to see return. It’s been so long, and there is so much potential with that character, I just hate to see Horror Inc/The Jason Universe dilute the IP straight out of the gate with a fucking beer commercial.

If you want to watch something Jason that isn’t being whored out by what Horror Inc is, checkout Never Hike Alone, a brilliant fan film series.

::End Rant::