Horror icon John Carpenter took to his Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon to announce that the next highly anticipated installment in the Halloween franchise has been delayed from this upcoming October to October 15, 2021. The statement shared by Carpenter came from both him and the Halloween Kills director David Gordon Green.
It stated that they were “heartbroken” over having to delay the movie, but given the impending “forecast of theatrical exhibition” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it felt right to push Halloween Kills back a year to ensure it would receive the proper presentation for fans.
“If we release it in October of this year as planned, we have to face the reality that the film would be consumed in a compromised theatrical experience. After weighing our options, we have chosen to push the film’s theatrical release by one year.”
While the news was disheartening to fans, Green and Carpenter attempted to lighten the mood by promising that the making of Halloween Kills was a “wild and vibrant production.”
They teased the many “legacy characters” set to return, such as Jamie Lee Curtis’ iconic character, Laurie Strode, and others like Lindsay (played by Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards ), Tommy, Marion, and more.
— John Carpenter (@TheHorrorMaster) July 8, 2020
The statement also stated that “on top of a traditional release, Universal has agreed to an IMAX presentation of the film.”
Sound mixing is also underway and supposedly they have recruited “one of the greatest design teams that can slash, scream and creep their way under your skin.”
Aside from having time to make Halloween Kills as perfect as possible, they also noted that production had already started on the follow-up film in the reboot trilogy, Halloween Ends , which has also been delayed until October 14, 2022, according to IndieWire .
Alongside his text post, Carpenter shared a brief teaser clip from the film. The 30-second snippet showed a few locations from the upcoming slasher flick along with a new scene featuring Laurie alongside her daughter Karen Nelson (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak).
The scene appears to take place shortly after the ending of Halloween (2018) when the Strodes left franchise killer Michael Meyers to burn in the basement. As Laurie and her family are carted off, several fire trucks and ambulances rush toward the house.
Laurie screams at them to “let him burn,” wanting her longtime nemesis to die once and for all.
While fans were upset in the comments section of Carpenter’s tweets, the majority seemed to understand the reasoning behind the film’s move.