‘Halloween Kills’ Delays to 2021: Carpenter Debuts First Footage, Promises Massive Kill Count

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The wait for the next “Halloween” movie is extending by a year as Universal Pictures has announced David Gordon Green’s “Halloween Kills” will now open in theaters October 15, 2021. The new release is a full year later than its original October 6, 2020 release date. The release date for the third film in the rebooted trilogy, “Halloween Ends,” has been pushed to October 14, 2022. Blumhouse has also moved “Candyman” from September 25 to October 16 and “The Forever Purge” to July 9, 2021.

“Halloween Kills” is the sequel to Green’s 2018 “Halloween,” which opened to $76.2 million (the highest opening in the horror franchise’s history) and ended its run with $159 million in the U.S. and $255 million globally. Green directed his “Halloween” reboot on a $10 million budget, making the film hugely profitable for Universal. Most importantly, the film got critics and fans back on the franchise’s good side after a series of poorly received sequels. “Halloween Kills” re-teams Green with Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, and Andi Matichak.

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John Carpenter, who started the “Halloween” franchise in 1978 and returned to produce and score Green’s 2018 reboot, also is returning with contributions on “Halloween Kills.” The director marked the release date change by debuting a brief “Halloween Kills” teaser that suggests the sequel will pick up immediately where the 2018 film left off. The clip sees fire trucks speeding to the burning Strode house, but Laurie and her family know that can only mean Michael Myers has a chance at survival.

In an interview with IndieWire’s Anne Thompson this week, Carpenter confirmed that “Halloween Kills” is already finished. “The cut is done,” the horror filmmaker said. “They’ll mix it in New York in the next week or so. Then it will be in the can. My work is all done. The movie is something else. It’s fun, intense and brutal, a slasher movie times one hundred, big time. It’s huge. I’ve never seen anything like this: the kill count!”

Watch the teaser for “Halloween Kills” in the video below. The post also includes a note from David Gordon Green and John Carpenter on the film’s release delay. The movie will open nationwide October 15, 2021.

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