Per Matt
If you don’t believe in the bogeyman by now… you should. And he’s damn near unstoppable. The Saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode returns for not one, but two more movies to wrap up the reboot trilogy, and I keep wondering what the sequel limit could possibly be for the Halloween film franchise in the distant future…
By and large, I’m a fan of the legendary filmmaker John Carpenter and I’m very excited about the news that Michael Myers shall return for a pair of selective sequels. I’m also a superfan of Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions, so to have them both working together on this project — my favorite horror franchise — seems like the best of both worlds. Granted, I was skeptical at first before watching Halloween (2018), but I actually really enjoyed David Gordon Green’s selective sequel — Halloween Turns 40 (And Doesn’t Miss a Bloody Beat).
After opening to $76.2 million domestically and wrapping up with $255 million globally on a budget around $10 million, another sequel was inevitable. Carpenter’s cryptic announcement gives the upcoming titles and dates, but nothing more. Halloween Kills is slated for an official release on October 16, 2020 and Halloween Ends gets the date of October 15, 2021. That means the crew better get back to work soon! Currently, a September 2019 film shoot is in the works, but not yet finalized.
Perhaps both films will be filmed simultaneously, much like The Lord of the Rings and The Avengers movies.
As a character, I’m curious to see what’s next for Myers, who has seemingly done just about everything possible on the big screen a serial killer can do. Having seen the character in way too many storylines (and trying to forget more than a few), the “recalibrated” character will return for two more outings (at least) and by the time Halloween Ends premieres, the movie will be the 13th film in the franchise. Unlucky number 13 will make Halloween the longest running horror franchise, outlasting contemporaries Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees in the process.
I’m excited to see what else Jamie Lee Curtis can bring to Laurie Strode’s character. I’d like to see many more terrors from Michael’s terrorist. And not just jump scares, either (but Blumhouse does a good job with those). I’d like to see some sort of supernatural explanation as to how Michael can withstand all the abuse he’s taken in the past, but nothing cheesy. It’s gotta be believable. And somehow, Paul Rudd’s in the next one, so I’m hoping his character will be developed and not just another bloody statistic.
If I learned anything about the splatterpunk genre from Paperbacks From Hell, the supernatural killer will seemingly survive everything that’s thrown at him. And if Ends is really the finale for this franchise (or it’s just a temporary break for the filmmakers), I expect a lot of fireworks to send Michael off into the wild blue yonder. I also don’t believe for a minute it’ll actually be the character’s final installment.
More likely than not, Ends will lead into a spin-off to another franchise… most likely one featuring Laurie’s granddaughter, Allyson Nelson (portrayed by Andi Matichak) as the new Final Girl for a new storyline.
Good things are in the works for this reboot trilogy and hopes are high for the future success of Michael Myers. Let’s just not extend this selective sequel into infinity…