10 Status Updates On Iconic Horror Movie Franchises

All you need to know about the future of Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, The Strangers, and more.

by Andrew Pollard
Freddy Krueger Lament Configuration Ash Williams Ghostface Jason Voorhees
New Line Cinema/Starz/Dimension Films/Paramount Pictures

When people think of the horror genre, so often they think of the plentiful franchises that play such a huge part in this murky corner of cinema. Dating back to the early days of film, there have always been big-time franchises at the centre of horror, with properties such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy early forerunners back in the 1930s.

Since those days, horror has carved up more franchises than you can shake a stick at, and of course those franchises have often struggled to maintain high quality across the board. Still, that's almost part of the charm about a horror franchise; that you take the good with the bad.

Now, things are currently - some would say thankfully - completely quiet for the heavy-hitting Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchises, but here we've got an update on a bunch of other significant horror properties with major fanbases behind them. Whether it's Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, or The Strangers, we've got you covered on what's in the works for these IPs.

So, with that in mind, then, here's the current lay of the land for ten of the biggest franchises in horror.

10. Final Destination

Freddy Krueger Lament Configuration Ash Williams Ghostface Jason Voorhees
New Line Cinema

Last Film Entry: Final Destination 5 (2011)

What's Going On? A whopping 13 years since the last franchise entry, and finally a new Final Destination movie is on the way.

This sixth film - currently known as Final Destination 6: Bloodlines - is believed to have entered principle photography in Vancouver, Canada at the turn of this year. And while plans had been in place for this picture for a good few years, the film was ultimately unable to move forward due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Freaks duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein are on board as co-directors, with the duo winning over producers during a Zoom call in which they used pre-recorded footage and swanky VFX work to fake a decapitation. As for the story of Final Destination 6, that originally came from the mind of the MCU's Spider-Man director, Jon Watts, and has been fleshed out by Guy Busick (Castle Rock, Ready or Not, the two most recent Scream movies), Lori Evans Taylor (Wicked Wicked Games, Bed Rest), and Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick.

Plot-wise, the only details known right now are that Final Destination 6 will centre on a group of EMTs and first responders who find themselves in the grasp of the Grim Reaper, and that franchise fave Tony Todd will be back as William Bludworth - with rumblings that Bludworth's backstory will be explored.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.