The Ministry of The Heavenly Vessel - Films - Development

Development

The original Friday the 13th was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, who had previously worked with filmmaker Wes Craven on The Last House on the Left (1972). Cunningham, inspired by the success of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), wanted Friday the 13th to be shocking, visually stunning, and " you jump out of your seat". Distancing himself from The Last House on the Left, Cunningham wanted Friday the 13th to be more of a "roller coaster ride". The first film was meant to be "a real scary movie", and at the same time make audiences laugh. The concept for Friday the 13th began as nothing more than a title. A Long Night at Camp Blood was the working title Victor Miller used while he drafted a script, but Cunningham believed in his "Friday the 13th" moniker and rushed to place an advertisement in International Variety. Worrying that someone else owned the rights to the title and wanting to avoid potential lawsuits, Cunningham thought it would be best to find out immediately. Cunningham commissioned a New York advertising agency to develop his visual concept of the Friday the 13th logo, which consisted of big block letters bursting through a pane of glass. In the end, Cunningham believed there were "no problems" with the title, but distributor George Mansour contends that there was an issue: "There was a movie before ours called Friday the 13th: The Orphan. Moderately successful. But someone still threatened to sue. I don't know whether Phil paid them off, but it was finally resolved."

Following the success of Friday the 13th in 1980, Paramount Pictures began plans to make a sequel and immediately acquired the worldwide distribution rights. According to Paramount Pictures' Chairman and CEO Frank Mancuso, Sr., "We wanted it to be an event, where teenagers would flock to the theaters on that Friday night to see the latest episode." Initial ideas for a sequel involved the Friday the 13th title being used for a series of discontinuous films, released once a year, and each would be a separate "scary movie" of its own right. Phil Scuderi—a co‑owner of Esquire Theaters with Steve Minasian and Bob Barsamian and a producer of the original film—insisted that the sequel must have Jason Voorhees, Pamela's son, even though his appearance at the end of the original film was only meant to be a joke. Steve Miner, associate producer of the first film, believed in the idea, and he ultimately directed the first two sequels after Cunningham opted not to return to the director's chair.

The studio continued to generate sequels over the years, based on the financial success they produced compared to their relatively low budgets. With every film repeating the same basic premise, the filmmakers came up with subtle adjustments so the audience would return. Changes involved the addition of a subtitle—as opposed to just a number attached to the end—like "The Final Chapter" and "Jason Takes Manhattan", or filming the movie in 3-D, as Miner did for Friday the 13th Part III. The third film would also be the birthplace of one of the most recognizable images in popular culture, that of Jason's hockey mask. Producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. eventually decided to kill Jason for good, after he experienced problems finding new films to produce that were more than just horror movies, because his name brought constant association to the Friday the 13th film series.

Jason would not stay buried for long, as the success of The Final Chapter ensured another Friday the 13th film. Mancuso, Sr. stated, "Quite simply, the public still wanted to see these films. So until they really stopped coming, why not continue to make more?" A New Beginning shifted the focus of the story to the character of Tommy Jarvis and how he battles his inner demons, hallucinations, and "rages to kill" after his ordeal with Jason in The Final Chapter. This premise was not repeated, as the very next installment brought Jason back from the dead. Jason Lives attempted to create a "funnier, faster, and more action-packed Friday" than had previously been done. The limited financial success of Jason Lives provided enough incentive to create another sequel, The New Blood. The idea proposed by screenwriter Daryl Haney stemmed from his realization that the films always ended with Jason battling the "final girl". Haney decided that this final girl should have telekinetic powers, which led Producer Barbara Sachs to dub the film, Jason vs. Carrie.

Plans were made to take Jason away from Crystal Lake and place him in a larger environment for the eighth film. New York City was selected as the main setting, with Jason spending approximately a third of the movie on a boat before reaching New York. The film was then subtitled Jason Takes Manhattan. Ultimately, the character spent the majority of the time on the cruise ship, as budget restrictions forced scenes of New York to be trimmed or downgraded. Vancouver had to substitute for the majority of the New York scenes.

When Jason Takes Manhattan failed to perform successfully at the box office, Sean Cunningham decided that he wanted to reacquire the rights to Friday the 13th and start working with New Line Cinema on Freddy vs. Jason, as New Line owned the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The concept of a fight between Freddy and Jason was not new, since Paramount had approached New Line about filming a crossover years before the latter had gained the licensing rights to Friday the 13th. At that time, both companies wanted the license to the other's character so that they could control the making of the film. Negotiations on the project were never finalized, which led Paramount to make The New Blood. After Jason Takes Manhattan was released in 1989, the rights reverted to Scuderi, Minasian, and Barsamianto, who sold them to New Line. Before Cunningham could start working on Freddy vs. Jason, Wes Craven returned to New Line to make New Nightmare. This effectively put Freddy vs. Jason on hold, but allowed Cunningham the chance to bring Jason back into the spotlight with Jason Goes to Hell. The ninth installment "turned a healthy profit", though it was only intended to open the door for a crossover with Freddy Krueger rather than to start a new series for New Line. Ultimately, the film series would go through another sequel before that would happen. Cunningham's "frustration" with the delayed development of the Freddy vs. Jason project forced him to create another sequel in an effort to keep the franchise in the minds of audiences. Based on Jason Takes Manhattan's concept of taking Jason away from Crystal Lake, the 10th film would put the titular character in space. The film suffered from the loss of its biggest supporter, President of Production Michael De Luca, when he resigned from his position. Lack of support forced the finished film to sit for two years before finally being released on April 26, 2002, and it would go on to become the lowest grossing film in the franchise at the domestic box office. It also held the distinction of having the largest budget of any of the previous films at that time.

After more than 15 years of off-and-on development, and approximately $6 million spent in 18 unused scripts from more than a dozen screenwriters, New Line finally produced a Freddy and Jason crossover for 2003. One of the biggest hurdles for the film was developing a story that managed to bring the two horror icons together. Potential stories varied widely, from Freddy having molested and drowned Jason as a child, to a cult of Freddy worshipers called the "Fred Heads". In January 2007, Platinum Dunes producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller outlined their intended goal to bring a Friday the 13th reboot to life. New Line approached Fuller and Form to create a reboot, but because Paramount still owned certain copyrights to the first film, the reboot would not be able to use anything from the original. Paramount, who wanted to be included in the development of a reboot, approached the producers and gave them license to use anything from the original films, including the title. With Paramount on board, Fuller and Form decided they wanted to use pieces from the early films. Fuller said, "I think there are moments we want to address, like how does the hockey mask happen." Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, writers of Freddy vs. Jason, were brought on to pen the script for the new film, with Marcus Nispel, director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake of 2003, hired in November 2007 to direct.