Lebron James Reportedly Joining 'Friday the 13th' Reboot as Producer
10/22/2018 11:39 am EDT
Lebron James is reportedly joining the Friday the 13th franchise as a producer of a planned reboot for the series.
According to Bloody Disgusting, James and his production company SpringHill Entertainment are said to be working with Vertigo Entertainment on a new launch for the iconic horror movie.
While no official confirmation has been announced, it makes sense that James would want to be a part of rebooting Friday the 13th as he has never been shy about his affinity for Jason Voorhees, the hockey-masked murder who terrorizes the Camp Crystal Lake cabins.
He also once posted a photo of himself driving around in a Jason mask, captioning it, "Riding around masked up! Hahaha. [Shout out] Jason Voorhees."
The first Friday the 13th film was released in 1980. It went on to spawn nine sequels, as well as a mash-up film with Jason's fellow horror film icon Freddy Kruger — 2003s Freddy vs. Jason — and a critically panned reboot in 2009.
Sine then, the franchise has had trouble getting back off the ground. A number of planned follow-up reboots failed to make it past the scripting stage, and a subsequent copyright lawsuit brought the series to a screeching halt.
All of the metaphorical roadblocks may be out of the way at this time, as rumors that James and his production company might join in producing a new reboot are certainly promising.
James is not new to the film world, as he previously appeared as himself in the Amy Schumer film Trainwreck. He also voiced a character in the animated film Smallfoot, and will next appear in a sequel to Space Jam.
Notably, SpringHill Entertainment will co-produce that film as well.
While James — an three-time NBA championship winner — may seem like an unusual person to be involved with making of a Friday the 13th reboot, its not much more unusual than Eastbound and Down star Danny McBride co-writing the new Halloween film.
That pairing seemed very strange to audiences at first as well, but it was clearly a successful move as the Halloween sequel recently earned the record for the highest ever October opening day with $33 million. The film's three-day intake was nearly a total of $80 million.
At this time, there is no word on when the Lebron James-produced Friday the 13th remake may land in theaters, but it likely would not be until the end of 2019 or sometime in 2020.
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