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Happy Death Day writer/director not so optimistic about third movie anymore

January 23rd, 2023 by Marc Comments

Almost exactly a year ago (here) we reported that a third, story-wrapping, installment in the Happy Death Day franchise may be on the way.

Twelve months later and sadly, things don’t seem so good anymore, as writer/director Christopher Landon has revealed that he fears the longer it takes to get the ball rolling, the less likely it is that it’ll happen at all.

The first two movies saw lead character Tree, played by the wonder Jessica Rothe, caught in a bizarre time loop that ended every day with her big killed by the mascot mask-wearing killer (see above) – it’s kinda Scream meets Groundhog Day and both movies are a lot of fun, satisfying the horror and sci-fi fans and, with the second movie ending with a cliffhanger, the fans – among which we count ourselves – have been pacing the floor for the final chapter.

“No movement at all, sadly,” says Landon when asked if the third movie was happening.

“There was a tiny moment where I really felt like I had Universal’s attention, but they forgot about me. I think it’s a really tough one for them, and I’m being really blunt and honest in that the first movie was very successful. It made a lot of money. It was well-received. And the sequel was not. The sequel is loved by people who have seen it, but it did not make a lot of money, and it was not a success for them. So it’s very hard to motivate them to make a third movie when the last one just didn’t perform. Those are the hard economics of the business.”

Landon does point out, however, that time is not, storywise at least, his enemy: “There was talk for a minute of it maybe being a Peacock thing. Maybe. Maybe one day. The beauty of it is that my idea, the whole idea for the third movie, it is not dependent on any sort of specific window or timeframe. So I could make it any time, but I mean, as the years draw past, I feel like our chances are dimming.”

However, one thing he does seem to be taking comfort in is that the fans are vocal and have made Jason Blum, the man behind Blumhouse who distributed the first two movies, aware that they are there and still really want the story wrapped up: “What’s funny is that every time Jason Blum is on Twitter and he talks about projects they’re doing and whatnot, there’s inevitably, there’s always at least a few people who say, ‘But what about Happy Death Day 3?’ So there are a lot of people out there who want the movie, but I just think it just isn’t enough.”

Perhaps someday we’ll see Tree return – she’s criminally underlooked in the world of final girls by the way – and finally get herself back on the proper timeline and when/if she does, we’ll be there to cheer her on.

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….