Blumhouse’s Halloween 2 is reportedly gearing up to start filming this fall for an October 2020 release date. The iconic slasher franchise turned forty last year and ended up celebrating its birthday in pretty high fashion, thanks to the release of filmmaker David Gordon Green and Blumhouse’s Halloween. A reboot-sequel that ignored all but the events of John Carpenter’s original 1978 horror classic, the new Halloween earned largely positive reviews and grossed $255 million at the global box office against a $10 million budget.
Needless to say, with those kinds of returns, Blumhouse wasted little time on getting a sequel into development. Danny McBride, who co-wrote Halloween (2018) with Green and Jeff Fradley, confirmed that Halloween 2 talks were underway within a week of Halloween‘s release in theaters – though, there had been discussions about a followup (one that could’ve been shot back-to-back with Green’s first film) even before then, according to producer Malek Akkad. As such, it’s not surprising to hear that Blumhouse’s next entry in the franchise might be ready to start production by September.
Collider is reporting that Blumhouse intends to start filming Halloween 2 by Labor Day, with a release date target of October 16, 2020 (which Universal currently has staked out for an untitled Blumhouse movie). The site says that Green may also return as a writer and director – as has long been expected – and that Jamie Lee Curtis will once again play Laurie Strode in the followup. Curtis only just had a meeting with Blumhouse head Jason Blum less than two weeks ago, so it’s not hard to believe that she’s already ready and willing to do battle with Michael Myers on the big screen once more.
Halloween (2018) teased a sequel in its final scene, which showed Laurie and her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) fleeing the burning wreckage of Laurie’s heavily fortified house… only to reveal a shot of its empty basement, as a way of hinting that Michael had (somehow) managed to escape the trap that Laurie set for him down there. Many critics felt the movie did a nice job of balancing its throwback elements with a more modern narrative about the Strode women and the ripple effects that Michael’s original murder spree had had on their lives, as a result of Laurie’s subsequent psychological trauma. That’s to say, it only makes sense for Blumhouse to continue developing that thread in the next film, with Green once again calling the shots.
In fact, Halloween 2 arguably has the potential to be better than Halloween (2018). Whereas that film had to spend a decent amount of time bringing audiences up to speed on life in the Halloween universe and ret-conning the previous sequels out of continuity, this new movie should have more room to expand upon its predecessor’s themes and newer story elements. Halloween 2 will also have more time to devote to fleshing out all three Strode women and really bringing their respective journeys to the forefront – as they prepare for Round 2 (or, in Laurie’s case, Round 3) with The Shape.
We will bring you more details on Halloween 2 as they become available.
