Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes to Take Over Rob Zombie’s Halloween Franchise

Michael Myers is a lot like Hollywood… they both just keep stabbing a dead corpse. Last month we reported that the upcoming sequel Halloween 3D had mysteriously disappeared from Dimension Films’ 2012 release schedule. No reason was given, but the project had already been delayed a couple of times previously and writer Todd Farmer had hinted that the future of the film was up in the air. Now this week we finally have another update on Halloween 3D, although it’s probably not an update that horror fans will be particularly thrilled about. It seems that the production has quietly changed hands, and now Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes will be assuming control of the franchise from here on in. The question is, will they be making a sequel or yet another reboot?

According to Bloody Disgusting, the new Halloween movie will drop the 3D gimmick entirely, although it’s unclear if it will still be considered a “part 3″ or if they will still be continuing Rob Zombie’s films. They are now in search of a new writer and director for the project, which means it’s pretty safe to assume that Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine 3D) are off it for good. None of this is particularly bad news, in my opinion, but something tells me that whatever Platinum Dunes ends up doing with it won’t be much better.

Personally, I can’t see them doing anything other than rebooting it from scratch (again), as that seems to be the only thing Platinum Dunes knows how to do. They’ve put together slick, modern updates of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and yet they haven’t made a sequel to a single one of them (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning notwithstanding). I think that’s pretty telling. Their reboots have all made money based on name recognition alone, but completely failed to connect with fans. I don’t love Rob Zombie, but at least he was doing something more than just cashing in on a brand name. Do you have any interest in another Halloween movie? What do you think Platinum Dunes should do with the property?



  • Anthony

    Yeah…this isn’t going to be very good.

  • Captain N

    This isn’t much of an issue. I am one of the few people who don’t really get up in arms over remakes, because most remakes tend to be films that were never all that great, or foreign films that never would have sold to an American audience as is. I just hope that they end up making a good movie in the end.

    Growing up, my younger brother became obsessed with the Halloween films at an early age, so I’ve seen them all a good amount of times and can safely say that they were never all that good. Certainly products of their time, but hardly hold up in this day and age. Nostalgia really does help this franchise (and many other horror franchises) quite a bit.

    I never understood why Rob Zombie’s first Halloween movie got so much hate, it was probably the best movie with the Halloween name attached to it. I never saw his second film though.

    Either way, there is more important things to worry about than a third Halloween film, or even another reboot. Isn’t there?

  • Kasper

    I ain’t care. Shit company #2 takes over shit company #1’s third film in the remake series, where the second film was god awful.

  • Matt from Cincinnati

    Gentlemen, she’s gone from suck to blow

  • Lucas

    I’ve just checked out Platinum Dunes’ filmography and there is lots of horror in it (albeit none of it great) The Texas Chainsaw Massacres (2003/2006), Amityville Horror (2005), Friday the 13th (2009), Nightmare on Elm St (2010)
    One thing’s for sure, PD knows how to make crappy horror remakes!
    Two interesting future projects of PD: The Monster Squad and Ashley Woods’ Zombies vs. Robots
    Who’d think Halloween would be good anyway?

  • Who else smells a TMNT/Halloween crossover coming soon? In 3-D. *smirk*

  • MGL

    Great 1th sentence!!

  • Matt McNeely

    Yeah, the Halloween franchise has been a joke since it became a franchise (that is to say the first one was good and the second was laughably terrible – and they got worse from there). Whatever shit companies and directors want to continue to put these things out – more power to them.