As we've already reported, John Carpenter is returning to the Halloween franchise for the first time in over 30 years to executive produce a new installment. So what do we know so far? Here's a quick primer to get you up to speed (all quotes courtesy of Dread Central).
1. This is Carpenter's first involvement in the franchise since he scored and produced 1982's Halloween III: Season of the Witch.
“So… I decided, after bitching for years and years about Halloween sequels, I would come aboard and shepherd this thing,” said the filmmaker.
2. The film is being produced by Miramax, Jason Blum's Blumhouse Pictures and Malek Akkad, whose father financed and produced the first eight films in the Halloween series.
Malek, who will produce through his Trancas International Films banner, was involved in several of the later installments and produced Rob Zombie's remake and its sequel.
3. Carpenter may also score the film, though negotiations haven't been completed yet. If he does, he'll work with his son Cody, who has contributed to the elder Carpenter's recent musical output.
“He”s going to produce, and hopefully score… he drives a hard bargain but I am a good negotiator, so hopefully he is going to score it too,” said Blum.
4. What form the new film will take — sequel, remake, prequel — hasn't been decided yet.
“We can”t tell you yet… because we don”t know,” said Carpenter. “What I can tell you is, it”ll be a movie.”
5. Carpenter is being billed as the new film's creative “godfather.”
“He”s going to godfather us, be involved with this movie creatively, and in the initial few conversations that we”ve had with directors, they”ve felt the same way we did: No one wanted to do this without John,” said Blum.
6. The film will harken back to the stripped-down aesthetic of the original.
Carpenter: “You know what? We”re probably going to go back to the original tradition that we started. It”s kind of gone astray. I feel like the remakes maybe went off somewhere that I didn”t want them to go.”
Carpenter: “Michael Myers is not a character. He is a force of nature. He is not a person. He”s part supernatural, part human. He”s like the wind, an evil wind. If you start straying away from that, and you get into explaining, then you”ve lost. So hopefully we can guide it back in the original direction.”
Blum: “I think we want to take it back to basics and not get into too much backstory.”
Carpenter: “The biggest challenge is to be true to the original spirit of the movie. Don”t get carried away. Tell a simple story. Tell it right. The original Halloween was made for very little money and it was a little, scary tale. That”s what we should be doing.”
7. The deal has been in the works for quite awhile.
Said Blum, “…we”ve been talking for about a year, with Miramax and Akkad.”
8. Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Hush) is reportedly “in talks” to direct (via Bloody Disgusting).
9. According to the official press release, the project is being “fast-tracked” for production.