Blumhouse might not have had the greatest start to 2020, with the recent “Fantasy Island” not necessarily winning rave reviews or attracting a big box office debut, but no matter what, it’s safe to say the production company will end the year with a hell of a bang. Why are we so confident? Well, Blumhouse is going to release the second ‘Halloween’ film in October, and if the first film’s success is any indication, the production company will be able to fund a lot of “Fantasy Island”-esque disappointments with the profits.
And according to a new interview with io9, Blumhouse boss Jason Blum talked about the upcoming sequel, “Halloween Kills,” and wants to assure fans that there won’t be any sort of middle film stumble in this horror trilogy. Specifically, the filmmaker discussed how he worked with director David Gordon Green, who helmed and co-wrote the 2018’s “Halloween,” to make sure that ‘Kills’ doesn’t feel like the middle part of a large story, but instead, the film feels like its own thing.
“I worried about it until I saw [the second one],” Blum explained. “And David [Gordon Green] worried about it. That it would feel like, remember ‘Lord of the Rings?’ Like you weren’t getting [the full story]? It doesn’t feel like that at all.”
He added, “[‘Halloween Kills’] feels like a complete movie. There’s a first, second, and third act. It has a big end. You still know from the end of the second movie where the third movie is going, but the second movie ends in a totally satisfying way. So it doesn’t feel like, you know, that ‘Lord of the Rings’ issue that they had.”
Obviously, the comparison between Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the Blumhouse “Halloween” trilogy is pretty thin, as they’re both completely different beasts. But it’s clear that Blum wants to make sure that there’s no lull between the first and third films. And it’s not just “Lord of the Rings” that suffered this sort of issue. Remember “The Matrix: Reloaded” and that cliffhanger? To a lesser extent, you can also include “Avengers: Infinity War,” which did have a beginning, middle, and end, though not to the extent that it can be called a “standalone” film.
As for where Blumhouse is in the development of the final two ‘Halloween’ films (of this iteration, at least), the producer said, “So we finished the second one and we’re about to start the third one. I just saw the second one. It’s pretty good.”
The “second one,” dubbed “Halloween Kills,” is set to hit theaters October 16. The third film, aptly titled “Halloween Ends,” is supposed to be released on October 15, 2021.