After attempting to produce a follow-up to New Line Cinema's financially successful 2009 reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise didn't pan out, in the summer of 2013, Warner Bros. Pictures relinquished the rights to the series back to the original owner, Paramount Pictures, as part of a deal that would allow Warner Bros. to co-produce Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. If a new entry in the series weren't produced within the next five years, Warner Bros. would get the rights back. Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes would once again be producing. Initially hired to direct the new installment was V/H/S co-director David Bruckner, who would be helming from a screenplay penned by Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing. Their draft utilized the found-footage angle, as mandated by the studio in response to the success of their Paranormal Activity films as well as the growing popularity of the sub-genre. However, this didn't last long, as Nick Antosca was soon brought in to write a more traditional draft that would ditch this approach, with Bruckner envisioning it as a throwback to the old-school slasher and classic coming-of-age films of the 1980's. Alas, Bruckner soon left the project. In the winter of 2015, it was reported that Prisoners scribe Aaron Guzikowski would be writing a new script, which would serve as an origin story for series villain Jason Voorhees. Eight months later, Breck Eisner was hired to direct, fresh off of the fantasy action thriller The Last Witch Hunter, with Paramount setting the release date for October 13, 2017 and aiming to begin production in March. Unfortunately, on February 6, 2017, the project was effectively cancelled by Paramount following the critical and commercial failure of their recently released horror sequel Rings. Thus, the rights to the franchise reverted back to Warner Bros. the following year. Follow me and ponder the question, "What if...?" Music: "Rules to Survive" – Brian Tyler (Scream) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iNZliGOKl8

The best-selling Stephen King sci-fi horror novel Firestarter, about a young girl with pyrokinetic powers named Charlie McGee who's being hunted down by a top-secret government agency, was originally going to be adapted into a film by none other than horror maestro John Carpenter, in what was to be his next film following The Thing. Carpenter enlisted that film's screenwriter Bill Lancaster to pen the screenplay, which deviated from King's novel by way of telling the story chronologically — ditching King's original flashback structure entirely — and merging the characters of John Rainbird and Dr. Joseph Wanless into one: a new female antagonist named Dr. Rahv, who presided over the Lot 6 experiments and later posed as a maid in order to gain Charlie's trust. Months later, Carpenter hired frequent collaborator Bill Phillips to do a rewrite, and rumor has it that his planned casting choices included Jennifer Connelly as Charlie, Richard Dreyfuss as her father Andy, Darwin Joston as Rainbird, and Lancaster's father Burt as Captain James Hollister. However, when The Thing was a critical and commercial failure upon its release, Universal Pictures promptly booted Carpenter off of the project. The studio and proudcer Dino De Laurentiis then forged ahead with a new take directed by Mark L. Lester and adapted by Stanley Mann, staying closer to the novel than the abanoned Lancaster and Phillips drafts and starring Drew Barrymore as Charlie. Follow me and ponder the question, "What if...?" Music: "Lot 6" – John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies (Firestarter) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWggH-BaDo0