LeBron James is in talks to produce a Friday the 13th remake with his production company, SpringHill Entertainment, and Vertigo Entertainment, Bloody Disgusting reported on Monday.
Vertigo Entertainment is known for horror fares such as Stephen King’s It, The Ring, The Strangers, and The Grudge.
The NBA star is reportedly a huge fan of the horror genre. Last Halloween he stepped out in a Pennywise costume, and in 2015 he released Friday the 13th-inspired sneakers, which were appropriately released on Friday, Nov. 13 and featured a blood splatter design.
James’ interest in rebooting the popular horror film franchise comes on the heels of Halloween’s huge $70M+ opening at the box office last weekend.
The original Friday the 13th came out in 1980 and centred on a group of counsellors who are murdered at a summer camp that was the site of a child’s drowning many years prior.
James recently announced he’s working on a sequel to Space Jam and will likely not appear in the Friday the 13th reboot. No director or writer is yet attached to the project.
Fun facts about Friday the 13th:
Jason murdered as many as 167 victims in all of the films, of which there are 12, including: Part II (1981), Part III (1982), Part IV: The Final Chapter (1984), Part V: A New Beginning (1985), Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), Part VII: The New Blood (1988), Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989), Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), Jason X (2002), Freddy vs. Jason (2003) and a 2009 Friday the 13th reboot.
Director Sean Cunningham was inspired by John Carpenter’s Halloween to make the film, and Kevin Bacon and Bing Crosby’s son, Harry, appeared in the original movie.
While Jason wasn’t the original killer, he was in subsequent films. Jason didn’t start wearing his signature hockey mask until Part III.
Thirteen different actors have played Jason Voorhees.
