'Halloween 3' News, 'Halloween II' Alternate Ending

Halloween II might have been a slight step up from the 2007 remake, but the trajectory of the series is nevertheless a bit depressing. Rob Zombie is probably on the hook for most of it, since he wrote and directed both films. But he had an unbelievably quick turnaround this last time: They started shooting in April, only a few months after Zombie decided to come back for round two. And it was released in August. There's no margin for error with a scheule like that...and there were a lot of errors in the movie. Bad combo.

The Weinstein Company still made money, though, because the film was made so inexpensively, so it almost immediately announced plans for a third movie in the franchise, not recognizing that the same kind of move doomed Halloween II before it ever got off the ground. Then TWC put it on hold for a few weeks, and it re-emerged as a future project for My Bloody Valentine director Patrick Lussier, which is the best-case scenario. Now, Bloody Disgusting says that the studio is accepting pitches for a "new angle" for the third Michael Myers movie, and because Lussier and Valentine writer Todd Farmer are busy working on the Nic Cage action pic Drive Angry, they might be out of the loop now. That hasn't been confirmed by the studio, but if Bob Weinstein has sent word out that he wants new story ideas, it could be bad news for Farmer, and that could keep Lussier from coming on board.

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Weinsteins Hit the Brakes on 'Halloween 3-D'

To borrow a phrase from Airplane!, it looks like the Weinsteins picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue. I was already going to write about the studio's rejected lawsuit claiming distribution rights to Sundance and Toronto award winner Precious when an even bigger subject developed: Deadline Hollywood reports that pre-production on Halloween 3-D has been stopped dead in its ill-conceived tracks.

Though it's easy to look at the so-so performance of Halloween II and the company's less-than-whopping results with most of its releases over the years (only seven Weinstein movies have made over $30 million in four years) and, picking up on the scent of rumors of other financial trouble, assume the worst. However, it's being reported that the project is back on the shelf "because Bob just felt it was rushing too fast."

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Writer, Director for 'Halloween 3-D' Made Official

Dimension Films announced just a couple days after Halloween II was released that we'd get a third movie less than a year from now, although Rob Zombie wouldn't be returning. Whether or not that new was intended to boost ticket sales for the current sequel I don't know, but I can say with certainty that it didn't help a bit.

But now the studio has made Zobmie's replacement for Halloween 3-D official, according to Bloody Disgusting, and as I mentioned when the rumor first came to light, there's not a better pick than Patrick Lussier. He'll direct the film, and his most recent credit was this year's My Bloody Valentine remake, so since this threequel will also be in 3-D, hiring the guy who used the technology better than anyone else in the genre almost seems too easy. Doubly good news is that this is a package deal; Bloody Valentine writer Todd Farmer is handling the new Halloween script.

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'Bloody Valentine' Director Heads to Haddonfield

If it's bad news that Dimension (aka Bob Weinstein) wants a third Halloween movie and wants it in less than a year and wants it in 3-D, then it is significantly better news that possibly the best candidate is coming forward to direct it.

Patrick Lussier, who made the splatteringly good horror flick My Bloody Valentine is the odds-on favorite to win the job, taking over for Rob Zombie. Fangoria reports that Lussier would write and direct, and since his Valentine was the best use of the new 3-D I've seen in a live action film, then it's a choice that's almost too good for the especially bad Halloween series.

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WTF? Weinsteins Want 'Halloween 3-D' Next Year?

I believe the phrase "throwing good money after bad" is in order: Bob Weinstein told The Los Angeles Times that we're getting another Halloween movie. Next summer. In 3-D.

Keep in mind, the article was published today, meaning at best Weinstein told the paper on Friday the threequel was a go. Would he change his mind now that the box office has spoken, and not all that favorably? In fact, since the opening weekend of the last Halloween movie, the two Rob Zombie films have combined to make a whopping $47 million in 16 weeks. The new sequel, however, has already topped the meager production budget of $15 million; is that reason alone to keep this moving forward?

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