Now that the rights to Halloween are up for grabs, the franchise’s return can fulfill John Carpenter’s original plan from the ’80s. Though Carpenter only directed 1978’s original Halloween movie, introducing the world to Michael Myers, he co-wrote the script for the first two movies alongside Debra Hill. For Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Carpenter and Hill took a step back, serving as producers. Interestingly, they only agreed to return for a third Halloween movie because it wasn’t a direct sequel to Halloween II. Carpenter would then sit out from the franchise until David Gordon Green’s reboot trilogy featured the original director’s work as the composer.
Halloween Ends marked the conclusion of the conflict between ultimate Final Girl Laurie Strode and the masked killer Michael Myers. The 2022 movie also marked the end of Blumhouse overseeing the franchise as the rights to the Halloween franchise are officially on the market. Miramax is currently shopping the Halloween rights to interested bidders, including various studios and streaming platforms. While the story involving Laurie Strode and Michael Myers might be done, the return of the Halloween franchise in some form is now inevitable. With numerous avenues to take with the franchise’s future, the new rights holder can return to Carpenter’s plan from four decades ago.
Halloween’s Future Can Restart John Carpenter’s Franchise Anthology Plan
Even after John Carpenter’s low-budget slasher movie grew into a massive hit in the years that followed its 1978 release, the director was hesitant about making a direct sequel. Still, he returned alongside his Halloween writing partner Debra Hill for Halloween II, but Rick Rosenthal directed. Following the 1981 sequel, the Halloween movies went into an entirely new direction, with Carpenter envisioning an anthology plan that would leave Michael Myers behind. Considering Michael Myers’ death in the Halloween Ends ending, the next project in the Halloween franchise can follow Carpenter’s anthology plan that started in 1982 by genuinely telling new stories outside of the core villain.
Rather than bring back Michael Myers to terrorize Haddonfield yet again, Halloween III: Season of the Witch dealt with ancient supernatural rituals and science fiction while focusing on an entirely new cast and setting. The project was meant to transform the Halloween franchise into an anthology series, following a new story on Halloween night for each installment. Carpenter, who made the anthology plan with Hill, intended to leave Michael Myers in the rearview to develop fresh stories. Now that the story of Michael Myers has been on display for decades, the Halloween franchise can take another shot at Carpenter’s plan to develop non-Michael Myers stories in the vein of Season of the Witch.
How A Halloween Anthology Can Still Work With Or Without Michael Myers
Season of the Witch has garnered a cult following, but it wasn’t a success upon release, causing many to wonder why the movie left out Michael Myers. The franchise quickly brought back the killer, and he served as a mainstay antagonist for every subsequent sequel, remake, and reboot installment. However, now that Michael Myers has appeared in 12 total movies, it’s the perfect time to move in a different direction, bringing the anthology vision back to create more terrifying tales set during Halloween while exploring other non-slasher genres.
Even if Michael Myers isn’t directly involved, there are still ways to keep the anthology installments connected within the same universe. Just like how future Halloween movies incorporated appearances by Halloween III’s cursed Shamrock masks, an anthology show or movie should include shared elements to keep everything distantly linked. These elements could also have connections to Michael Myers or other established Haddonfield characters without the need to use them as the focus of new Halloween projects. Though Michael Myers will likely return at some point, there’s no reason the next studio or platform with franchise rights shouldn’t give Carpenter’s anthology plan another shot.
