10 Horror Movies That Led To Massive Lawsuits

8. The Most Confusing Rights Issue Ever - Friday The 13th

Sandra Dier - Friday The 13th Part 2 death
Paramount Pictures

Have you ever wondered why the Friday the 13th franchise has been all talk and no walk for the past decade?

After the reasonable success of the reboot there were so many plans for future movies starring everyone's favourite hockey mask wearing villain. Hell, there was even the plan to make a Friday the 13th found footage flick at one point (though I'm kind of pleased the time has passed on that one).

The reason nothing has ever materialised, however, is that the franchise is caught up in one of the messiest lawsuits in recent memory. Who has the rights to this franchise has always been a confusing question, but most recently a legal battle between original rights holder (and co-creator of the franchise) Sean S. Cunningham and the writer of the original movie Victor Miller have left the series in a state of limbo.

The pair's case - alongside the general rights confusion - has been ongoing for years now, and is partly why we haven't seen any new movie, why the Friday the 13th game suddenly stopped being supported, and even why a Jason Voorhees-starring episode of Supernatural had to be scrapped.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.