Could the covert action of following someone on social media be the future of the news scoop? Probably not, but it can cause lots of speculation and that is what’s happening to the Jason Universe account on X, specifically the literal reboot of Friday the 13th The Game.
Writer Cody Hamman over at JoBlo.com is putting some clues together about the future of the video game but insists that it is all fan theory and hopeful folderol. Still, it’s an interesting take on what has become one of the most convoluted rights issues in horror movie history.
Basically, producer Sean S. Cunningham and writer Victor Miller came to litigious blows on who owned the rights to the original Friday the 13th. In the end, Miller won the case for domestic rights to the first film, but Cunningham scored the intellectual properties for everything that came after, including Jason himself. Consequently, the Friday the 13th game had to shut down its servers since Mr. Voorhees is the protagonist. Whew!
Fast-forward to May of this year and it gets even more complicated. Robert Barsamian CEO of Horror, Inc (and EP of Friday the 13th: The Game) rolled out something called Jason Universe in which they say they are “excited” to work with Victor Miller, however, Miller is not part of the company. Futhermore, Jason Universe uses a hockey mask (weren’t those rights secured by Cunningham?) in its logo which implies the company is focusing on the big guy himself. If anyone can figure out how that works, let us know in the comments. Could it be a fair use issue?
Now comes the kicker, in Hamman’s article he points out that the Jason Universe X account has started following the Friday the 13th Game account and its developer Gun Media. What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. But it does create some circumstantial evidence that Horror Inc, might be doing something with the project given most of their other “follows” are company-related. Pages such as Peacock who is rolling out Crystal Lake, a series based on Friday the 13th, and Fortnite because there might be an in-game tie-in.
Again, none of this matters since Jason Universe isn’t confirming anything. However, Sheri Conn, Global GM of Horror, Inc said to IGN in May, “We can’t wait to introduce new Jason Universe activations to these amazing fans.” Could the game be a part of these so-called “activations”? And the bigger question: What exactly is an activation?
We will let you know once we learn more.
