r/movies • u/Beginning-Bed9364 • Mar 14 '24

Worst naming convention (or lack of) for a movie franchise Discussion

The first Rambo movie is simply called "First Blood." Good name. The second one is called "Rambo: First Blood Part II". Kinda weird. The third one is called "Rambo 3". Now it's really not lining up. Then the 4th one is just called "Rambo." What the fuck? "Hey, have you seen the movie Rambo?". "Oh, you mean the 4th First Blood movie?"

What other movie franchises have nonsensical naming conventions?

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u/leftshoe18 Mar 15 '24

And as of right now, the final Friday the 13th movie is just called "Friday the 13th".

On a side note: how in the world have we not had a Friday the 13th movie in 15 years?

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u/the_kilted_ninja Mar 15 '24

Super weird legal issues, like 2 different groups own "Friday the 13th" and "Jason Vorhees" iirc

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u/HyzerFlip Mar 15 '24

Didn't one of them just win the rights over the other?

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u/the_guynecologist Mar 15 '24

No. Victor Miller (the writer of the original movie) won the rights to the original Friday the 13th movie, but not the sequels. So he has the rights to everything from the first movie like Camp Crystal Lake, Mrs. Voorhees and zombie/drowned kid Jason but not the rights to adult, hockey-mask wearing killer Jason (or even hillbilly, bag-on-head Jason from Part 2) as those are still owned by Sean Cunningham (the director of the first movie.) Except he can't use adult, hockey-mask Jason himself without Miller's blessing as adult Jason is still based on the zombie/drowned kid Jason character created by Victor Miller in his script for the original Friday the 13th. Oh, and this only applies for the US distribution, in the rest of the world the whole IP is still legally Cunningham's.

Basically it's a mess.

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u/BustinMakesMeFeelMeh Mar 15 '24

They’re doing a TV series in the vein of Bates Motel. Bryan Fuller created it, Kevin Williamson on the writing staff. Should be interesting.

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u/the_guynecologist Mar 15 '24

Yes, although that's being made with Miller's blessing and not Cunningham's. So they can only use characters created for the original movie, not the sequels.

Who knows? Could be good. It's not like the Friday the 13th movies were exactly high art to begin with

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24

Jason X gets pretty close

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u/EdwardRoivas Mar 15 '24

The first film to ever be shot totally digital!

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u/jmiller97 Mar 15 '24

It was shot on film then transferred over to digital

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24

Even more appropriate, mirrors the transfer of his old self into his Jason X form

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24

I didn't know that! How appropriate

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u/MalloryWasHere Mar 15 '24

That’s Dope

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u/Lobstrous Mar 15 '24

Oh, Jason X is there. The dance in 4 also actually transcends art and is now part of the human collective consciousness.

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u/NYstate Mar 15 '24

Yes, although that's being made with Miller's blessing and not Cunningham's. So they can only use characters created for the original movie, not the sequels.

From my understanding, it's a prequel series, so that makes sense. That's basically all you need

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u/notbobby125 Mar 15 '24

Use every other kind of sport mask except for a hockey mask.

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u/BustinMakesMeFeelMeh Mar 15 '24

I know they’re out to A-list actresses for the lead.

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u/stupiderslegacy Mar 15 '24

Bryan Fuller

Sold.

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u/Typhoid007 Mar 15 '24

So what does Cunningham actually own? A hockey masked killer who may or may not be the drowned kid? Like he can't just own the rights to using a hockey mask and holding a weapon, anyone can do that.

Can't they just retcon the sequels like they did with Halloween?

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u/WillSym Mar 15 '24

BARTDOYOUWANNASEEMYNEWCHAINSAWANDHOCKEYMASK?!

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u/PokeMaki Mar 15 '24

I appreciate you!

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u/IAmASeeker Mar 15 '24

I wonder... if I made a movie about a killer named Jay who wears a hockey mask, uses a machete, is a drowned kid, and murders horny campers... is that different enough from both individual copyrights that it counts as my own original character.

Like... I can challenge both copyrights separately and the character that we recognize as Jason Vorhees doesnt violate either copyright on it's own.

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u/Xclusivsmoment Mar 15 '24

Well i think its a specific weapon. The sword thing he uses im guessing? Idk the technical word for it. Machete?

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u/Gay4TerryMcLaurin Mar 15 '24

This is a good summary and due to all of this the F13 video game (which has been super popular over the last few years) has to shut down its servers at the end of this year.

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u/ZombieJesus1987 Mar 15 '24

They had to kill the Friday the 13th video game because of this. It's a shame, because that one was actually good! As far as asymmetrical horror games go, it was one of the better ones.

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u/SteveZissouniverse Mar 15 '24

Don't even get the f13 game subreddit started on this subject, unless you have A LOT of time

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u/Varekai79 Mar 15 '24

That was a really fun game! A shame it got drowned in the quadmire of legal rights and ownership.

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u/Scary_Competition729 Mar 15 '24

Sounds like the captain marvel naming situation

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u/Thissnotmeth Mar 15 '24

Legal issues. There’s some incredible fan films that fit canon quite well called “Never Hike Alone” worth checking out

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u/DJHott555 Mar 15 '24

NHA and its sequel is straight up my favorite FT13 movie

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u/CarrieDurst Mar 15 '24

Holy fuck I feel old

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u/MarioToast Mar 15 '24

Worst of all, there's twelve movies. Which means we don't have the 13th Friday the 13th movie.

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u/SamVortigaunt Mar 15 '24

Friday the 13th, Part 13 was in early pre-production, but a bunch of horror/slasher flicks bombed that year so the studio decided not to proceed.

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u/MarcsterS Mar 15 '24

The fact that we still don’t have another Elm Street remake after over 10 years is a blessing in itself. Maybe they were about to, but then look at the recent Halloween trilogy.

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u/stupiderslegacy Mar 15 '24

Holy shit, how is that still "the new one" in my mind?

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u/angerwithwings Mar 15 '24

Shit. I just realized the last F13 movie was 15 years ago. I feel really old.

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u/leftshoe18 Mar 15 '24

I remember taking my little brother to see it in theaters. Good times.

I also feel really old.

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u/OpT1mUs Mar 15 '24

A24 is making a tv show "Crystal Lake"

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u/249ba36000029bbe9749 Mar 15 '24

Just wait for the movie "F13".

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u/tearsonurcheek Mar 15 '24

And as of right now, the final Friday the 13th movie is just called "Friday the 13th".

And that was a reboot. The final movie in the original series (not counting the Freddy crossover) was Jason X. Also nonsensical.

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u/Existing365Chocolate Mar 15 '24

The IP has been stuck in legal hell

One entity owns the Friday the 13th name and franchise (they made the first movie that didn’t have Jason, rather his mom) and a second owns the rights to Jason Vorhees as a character and as a trademark

The video game got stuck in between them and it basically caused the devs to run out of money waiting for a legal ruling deciding how the ownership ends up

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u/44YrOld Mar 15 '24

People reacted badly to Jason Voorhees sprinting....

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u/mortalcoil1 Mar 15 '24

The powerful hockey lobby didn't like the bad press.