Michael Bay to Remake Friday the 13th

Posted on October 2, 2007

Hot off the heels of his Transformers box office blast, Micheal Bay is recreating another franchise: he remaking Friday the 13th.

The remake of the original 1980 horror classic, which turned the villainous Jason into a cultural icon, is being produced for New Line Cinema by Bay's Platinum Dunes banner. Platinum Dunes was also behind the revival of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hitcher."

In the original "Friday the 13th," the serial killer made only a brief appearance in the final frames and never killed anyone. Jason didn't even don the famous mask until the third movie. The remake, however, will focus on Jason -- who will wear the mask and kill -- and keep the famous setting of Crystal Lake.

Damian Shannon and Mark Swift will write the script. They wrote 2003's "Freddy vs. Jason," the killer's last big-screen appearance. That film grossed more than $82 million domestically.

We think it's terribly important that every successful movie from 1970 on should be re-made over and over again, so audiences won't have to be shocked by seeing a new, original script. And one re-imagining is not enough. Unless at least three directors have done a version of it, it really hasn't been done at all.

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