With nearly five years gone since its last installment, writer S.S. Wilson reveals theTremorsfranchise may be returning very soon. Wilson co-wrote the 1990 cult classic horror movie led by Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward with Brent Maddock and director Ron Underwood, and remained creatively involved through the first three follow-ups, including helming the 1996 sequel and 2004 prequel. In the years since,theTremorsfranchisehas included three further sequels, as well as a short-lived TV spinoff and scrapped TV show featuring Bacon’s return.
Now, during a recent appearance at the 2nd Annual Tremors Fest in New Mexico (viaJoBlo), Wilson revealed thathe, Maddock and Underwood have reacquired the rights to their originalTremorsscreenplay. In turn, he confirmed that he and Stampede Entertainment were looking to bring the franchise back, albeit with a major deviation due to not having the rights to every film after the original. He did, however, affirm that the studio has “zero intention” of doing a remake, but instead doing a “sequel that’s set in Perfection, Nevada”. Check out what Wilson shared below:
What we have now, just got, are the rights to our original screenplay. That’s good, we can remake (Tremors) if we want to. We don’t have the rights to Shriekers, we don’t have the rights to Ass Blasters, we don’t have the rights to Tremors 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Stampede has zero intention to do a remake of the first movie. They’re most likely going to try to make a sequel that’s set in Perfection, Nevada with the remaining cast and crew and another Graboid threat. Marc Toberoff would love for them to pull a Prey-style approach to a sequel film. Stampede doesn’t have the foreign distribution rights, so they still have to go to the table for negotiations with Universal about selling outside of America.
What This Means For Tremors' Future
For those who have stuck with the horror franchise since the 1990 original,Wilson’s announcement of regaining the rights toTremorsis sure to come as a welcome announcement. While none of the follow-ups to the original movie that had Wilson and Maddock’s involvement were necessarily well-received, those without them fared even worse. Check out howthe variousTremorsmoviescompare on Rotten Tomatoes with critics and audiences in the chart below:
88%
76%
64%
46%
80%
34%
33%
36%
40%
28%
50%
37%
Considering the audience scores were higher with them than without them, Wilson and his team’s return could certainly put the franchise back on track. But, as he noted above,the road to making a newTremorsmovie won’t be the smoothest path for the group. The rights situation is arguably the biggest one, with the fact that Stampede Entertainment doesn’t have the ones for any of the sequels making it unclear how they would develop a new installment.
Beyond Wilson’s mention of aPrey-style sequel for the franchise, one of themore likely options for a newTremorsmovie would be a legacy sequel to the original. Beyond the scrapped TV show that he returned to film the pilot for, Bacon has frequently expressed his willingness to come back for another movie. Though Ward’s passing in 2022 means another Val and Earl adventure won’t happen, the movie could still take a similar path tothe likes of 2018’sHalloweenor 2021’sCandymanby ignoring the prior films and establishing a direct sequel.
Our Take On The Tremors Franchise’s Future
It’s Time For A Nostalgic Return To The Basics
Though it seems unlikely that anotherTremorsmovie will happen right away just because Wilson and his team have reacquired the rights to the original, his enthusiasm does give me hope for the franchise’s future. A return to basics would be a refreshing change of pace after the past couple of installments tried to go for bigger and new locations, but Perfection, Nevada’s isolated setting is part of what made the original both tense and chilling. If they not only return there, but also convince Bacon to return, Wilson and his team could have the bestTremorssince the first on their hands.
Tremors
TheTremorsfranchise is a horror-comedy series revolving around subterranean creatures called Graboids terrorizing various locations, with an evolving cast led by survivalist Burt Gummer. Starting with the 1990 cult classicTremors, the franchise has grown into multiple films, a TV series, and video games.
