Dodecaphobia

Friday the 12th is as close to topical timing as I can expect to get for this news. It's been covered widely, but after Rob Zombie's new Halloween did healthily at the box office - budgeted about $15 million, doubled that on open weekend, doubled that in U.S. gross to date - the equivalent reboot of the Friday the 13th series is back in high gear.

The flick's been on and off for a few years. Round about 2005, Quentin Tarantino was mentioned as a likely choice to start the franchise over; in March of that year, he denied those rumors.

Reports in early 2006 claimed it was back in the works. This was mostly due to some fortuitous scheduling: October 13th would fall on a Friday. The production was still in early stages, and by the time the reports gained momentum, it became clear that the film would have to be scripted/finalized, cast, shot, edited, and advertised in a few short months.

October 2006, around that previously projected release date: during press for Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, producer Andrew Form claimed that Friday the 13th was in a rights battle, and should be out July 2007.

September 2007: new writers brought on. A previous draft had been done by Mark Wheaton, writer of the derivative The Messengers (half Grudge, half Cold Creek Manor). New writers are Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, responsible for the sufficiently entertaining Freddy vs. Jason crossover. We can only hope that the new track means Jonathan Liebesman (TCM: The Beginning) will no longer be involved.