Paramount seem to be keeping themselves busy by losing faith in their big horror properties, drastically putting back the release dates of two upcoming instalments of established franchises.
Originally slated for an October 18th release, Rings (the latest in Paramount’s Ring franchise, started in 2002 with Gore Verbinski’s remake of the 1998 J-horror classic) is now looking at hitting screens on February 3rd, 2017. It’s a big move considering the studio’s announcement of their plans to revive the franchise with annual Halloween releases, taking the potentially lucrative spot previously held by the Saw films and later, Paranormal Activity. It would certainly be an unexpected move to abandon this release plan altogether; I guess it will all rest on how Rings does at the box-office.
Perhaps the studio got nervous following the luke-warm box office of Blair Witch, another belated third part to a series started 15-odd years back.
Along with the Rings news came Paramount’s announcement that their 
upcoming Friday the 13th reboot/sequel/prequel/whatever has been put back by nine months. This is less of a surprise, with shooting yet to begin and a planned release date of January 13th, 2017 fast approaching. There’s an obvious criteria regarding a date for the film, meaning that it is now due to emerge on Friday, 13th October, 2017.
Time (and money) will tell if these two franchises remain successful properties for Paramount.
Words: Kevan Farrow (@KevanX)
