Jason Voorhees Returns: Steve Miner To Direct 13th Entry Of ‘Friday The 13th,’ First Film In Franchise In Nearly Two Decades

EXCLUSIVE: Lake dwellers, beware! Jason Vorhees, the machete-wielding masked murderer is back — set to return for the first theatrical feature in the iconic horror franchise Friday the 13th in nearly two decades.

Coming shortly on the heels of the Peacock/A24 series Crystal Lake, as well as the acclaimed Mike P. Nelson short Sweet Revenge, made to commemorate the 45th of Jason Universe, this entry in the franchise will be a big one, Lucky #13.

Steve Miner, who first put the machete in Jason’s hands in Friday the 13th Part II and introduced the legendary hockey mask in Friday the 13th Part III, is set to direct the 2027 film from a script penned by emerging screenwriter David Fliegel. Returning to the franchise’s independent roots, the film will be financed and produced by the Barsamian family, which controls the franchise through their company Horror, Inc.

“For generations of fans, Jason’s identity is inseparable from the creative choices Steve Miner brought to the screen,” said Robbie Barsamian, Executive Vice President of Horror, Inc. “Reuniting with Steve under a fully independent model allows us the creative control to honor what makes Jason the greatest slasher of all time and deliver the definitive theatrical event that today’s audiences expect.”

Miner said, “When I put the hockey mask on Jason for Friday the 13th Part III, I knew it would create a truly scary image that would work for that movie. I had no idea that it would live on as one of the most iconic symbols in horror films. I’m thrilled to come back and continue the legacy.”

This will be the first Friday the 13th film since a 2009 reboot from Warner Bros. The next installment will welcome a new generation of horror fans into the Jason Universe while delivering the practical kills and terror longtime Friday the 13th fans crave.

CatchLight Studios — a production company behind horror films like A24’s Heretic and the Sandra Oh-led Umma — has been named as Horror, Inc.’s production partner, with Cineverse securing North America distribution rights, including theatrical.

Chris McGurk, Chairman and CEO of Cineverse, which has found major recent success with the Terrifier horror sequels, said: “Jason is one of the most recognizable figures in cinema history. We have a proven track record of empowering uncompromising genre filmmaking and connecting it directly with passionate audiences, and are honored to be a part of bringing Jason back to theaters where he belongs.”

Added Jeanette Volturno, Co-Founder of Catchlight Studios, “Bringing an icon like Jason back to the screen requires dedication to craft and a deep respect for the fandom. We’re excited to collaborate with Steve and Robbie to create a practically-shot film that is relentless, cinematic and terrifying.”

For more than 45 years, the billion-dollar Friday the 13th franchise has remained a defining force in global pop culture and genre filmmaking, known for its classic scares, iconic kills and multi-generational fan base that sets the standard for horror. The franchise launched with a namesake 1980 slasher, made independently for roughly $550,000 and acquired by Paramount in a bidding war, in which a group of counselors at Camp Crystal Lake, preparing to reopen the summer camp, are stalked and killed by an unseen assailant, while the memory of a boy who drowned there years earlier hangs over the grounds. The film, directed by Sean S. Cunningham, proved the foundation for a durable, low-budget sequel machine, with Warner Bros. and subsidiary New Line releasing some installments. While the original surprised with the revelation of (**SPOILER**) Pamela Vorhees as the assailant, later entries embraced Jason himself as the franchise’s terrifying driving force.

Today, the franchise is back in circulation through Crystal Lake, Peacock and A24’s prequel series, which premiered all eight episodes on Oct. 15. Featuring Linda Cardellini as matriarch Pamela Voorhees and Callum Vinson as a young Jason, the show generated 1.3 billion minutes viewed in its first 11 days alone, per Nielsen, bringing Peacock its fourth-best scripted-original debut. Past films in the series have collectively grossed nearly $450 million worldwide.

Over the decades since the original Friday the 13th, the franchise has also spawned video games, immersive experiences, comic books, collectibles, apparel and more. Horror, Inc. launched the Jason Universe to usher in a new era of expansion in the franchise in 2024.

News of the new Friday the 13th comes as a new installment in the equally popular A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise — revolving around Jason’s disfigured child murderer foe, Freddy Kreuger — percolates at Paramount Primal.

Miner is represented by David Gersh of The Gersh Agency. Fliegel is repped by Sukee Chew at Hopscotch Pictures and Ethan Neale at Paradigm.