The Jason Universe might be making big moves with its IP Jason Voorhees character. They announced at Comic-Con 2025 they are developing a new film and a video game. It should all be taken with a grain of fan service salt though, giving fans what they want to hear is good in the short term, but they’ll lose any trust they have if they don’t follow through.
The Jason Universe brand, owned in part by Victor Miller, hasn’t had a good track record since its relevance is solely based on their promises which have amounted to a playable Fortnite Jason and conceptual art that’s growing on us.
TL;DR: The original Friday the 13th creators, Victor Miller and Sean S. Cunningham, were involved in a court battle. In short, Miller got no mask Jason, and Cunningham got the classic Hockey mask look.
If you ask us, Cunningham got the better deal. He’s free to use Jason as most of us know him: a masked slasher. But Cunningham needs Miller’s approval since he owns the original Jason to move forward. We aren’t lawyers.
Speaking of cash grabs, curiously, Miller decided instead of raising money for a feature length film he would approve a short film commercial for a so-so hard cider. It’s not that we are shaming their hustle, but something just doesn’t feel right. Especially since Jason has a mask on in the ad, something we thought was owned by Cunningham. They have created a new mask, so maybe that’s a workaround. Again, we aren’t lawyers.
Miller is taking a high-stakes risk with Crystal Lake, a prequel series coming to Peacock. He’s got to create a Jason Voorhees show, without the hockey mask, and barely any Jason. Fans are skeptical but appreciative.
We can’t tell if Jason Universe is sputtering along because it’s waiting for the right moment, or if they are publically crowdsourcing through merch and social media ad revenue. Or if they are so young a company they don’t know what to do. We know they can’t use the Friday the 13th logo since that’s owned by Warner Bros.; that must be frustrating.
It’s a lot of pressure to be responsible for a prolific monster that hasn’t seen the light of day in 16 years. Baiting fans is one way to build hype, but soon hype becomes empty promises and fans won’t forget that at the box office. So the movie better be good.
We predict, that Sean S. Cunningham, Victor Miller and Warner Bros. will have to unite somewhere down the line to make a good picture unless Jason Universe and Horror Inc. can confidently do it on their own.
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