In the early aughts, crossover films were beginning to take a foothold. While a few had occurred throughout film history, movie executives were hoping that a whole new wave of horror films could be mined when they produced Freddy Vs Jason.
A new Alien Vs Predator franchise arrived in its wake, but the first meeting between Nightmare on Elm Street‘s and Friday the 13th‘s horrific killers would also be their last despite plans for a sequel.
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It’s a shame that the proposed followup never took place, as it would have brought Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and the man with a chainsaw hand to the fray.
Now, Freddy Krueger himself has began speaking about the movie that never got off the ground, a proposed crossover with Evil Dead‘s and Army of Darkness‘ series lead Ash in a film appropriately titled Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash.
Robert Englund, the actor who plays Freddy in the Nightmare on Elm Street films (except for that awful remake), was speaking at Emerald City Comic Con a few weeks ago at his spotlight panel when he talked about the failed plans for the epic crossover.
“I am very disappointed. We left some money on the table, as they say in Hollywood, right after the great success of Freddy vs. Jason. Sam Raimi was the king of the world; he had all the money in the world because of Spider-Man. I’m a huge fan of Sam’s and I’m a big fan of Bruce Campbell,” Englund said.
“They had this idea, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash. Now we’re in what we call post-Deadpool, post-Guardians of the Galaxy perception; but back then we hadn’t had that kind of a film yet, with the exception of Evil Dead and Freddy vs. Jason, that were really mashing graphic novel and comedy and horror and science fiction. So I loved this idea.”
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A version of the idea was later turned into a comic book, but the film never got off the ground for reasons, as Englund stated.
“Sam Raimi wanted Ash to win. He wanted him to win the match,” Englund said. “Which I thought was a great idea. New Line Cinema was against it because I had just had my ass kicked by Jason; they were afraid, cause I was the most successful of the three franchises, they were afraid. ‘We can’t have Freddy killed twice in a row.’ And I was like, ‘Wait a minute, guys. You revived me, you resurrected me with dog urine!’ It’s real easy to bring Freddy back. Come on. That’s not that hard to do.”
“But anyway. I loved the idea. I had this vision of the poster. Bruce Campbell with his shirt open and all of his abs spray painted and highlighted, with Freddy Krueger under [one] arm and Jason under [the other] arm. And the poster would say: ‘Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: Keeping the world safe from sequels.’”
It’s great to see Englund having a great sense of humor about the whole ordeal, including the fact that Freddy would end up being killed yet again. Hopefully the enthusiasm for the project picks up, especially in the wake of the success of Ash vs. Evil Dead on Starz. But with a rebooted Nightmare On Elm Street, we have to keep fingers crossed that Englund gets the chance to play Krueger once again.
[Embed id=46413]Ash vs. Evil Dead[/Embed]
The show stars Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, Burn Notice) in the role of Ash Williams; Lucy Lawless (Salem, Spartacus) as Ruby, who now possesses the powerful Necronomicon; Ray Santiago (Touch, Meet the Fockers) as Pablo Simon Bolivar, Ash’s loyal sidekick dealing with the trauma he suffered in the cabin; and Dana DeLorenzo (A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas) as Kelly Maxwell, who, grief-stricken after the death of her parents, plots revenge against The Evil Dead.
Sam Raimi serves as executive producer with Rob Tapert (Evil Dead, Spartacus, Xena: Warrior Princess), Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, Burn Notice) and Ivan Raimi (Drag Me To Hell, Spider-Man 3) along with Craig DiGregorio (Workaholics, Chuck) who serves as executive producer/showrunner. Aaron Lam (Spartacus) and Moira Grant (Spartacus) serve as producers.
[h/t] Bloody Disgusting
