"Happy Death Day" is basically "Groundhog Day" meets "Halloween" — but if it were
ever to get a third installment, it could end up being so much more. But will "Happy
Death Day 3" ever actually be produced? Stick around to learn the freaky truth.
The biggest obstacle in the way of "Happy Death Day 3" being made is the box office woes that its
predecessor dealt with. Sure, "Happy Death Day 2 U" still received plenty of positive critical
and audience acclaim — and turned a profit like the original — but it wasn't nearly as much of
a success. On a $9 million budget, the film grossed around $64 million worldwide — just
about half of the original's $125 million haul. While that's still an impressive feat, it's not
even close to the accomplishments of the original — and even director Christopher Landon knows it.
During an interview with SlashFilm, Landon said —
"It's very hard to motivate them to make a third movie when the last one just didn't perform."
"Congrats. Oh, and by the way, you're gonna die. Again, and again, and again."
Unfortunately for fans, the profitability of a movie is the biggest factor in pushing studios
to greenlight further installments in a franchise. "Happy Death Day 2 U" simply
couldn't reach the marks it needed to make the dream of another sequel a reality.
Ever since the release of "Happy Death Day 2 U" — and its disappointment at the box
office — there's been a lot of chatter from Christopher Landon and Blumhouse
head Jason Blum about the future of the "Happy Death Day" franchise. Landon has
been talking about doing "Happy Death Day 3" for quite some time,
and he's even mentioned plans to change the genre up a bit more with a potential third film.
The comments from Blum though were much more interesting,
as he told Inverse that discussions were still happening on the film. Blum elaborated —
"The reason it's still alive is because I'm very passionate about it... It's very
rare that you make a second sequel after a movie that didn't perform very well,
but I want to do it because I thought the second movie was spectacular."
Unfortunately, according to Landon, it seems like those discussions have
stalled. When talking with SlashFilm, Landon was pessimistic, stating —
"There was a tiny moment where I really felt like I had Universal's attention,
but they forgot about me."
It seems like the talks around "Happy Death Day 3" have halted,
and chances of a third installment look slim for now.
Based on the ending of "Happy Death Day 2 U" and Christopher Landon's follow-up plans,
there's plenty to speculate on when it comes to what a third film could
explore. "Happy Death Day 2 U" ended with a post-credit scene that saw Tree and her
friends picking up trash as community service for the destruction they caused. That is,
until DARPA agents swarm them and take them to their facility, where they say that they're
looking to experiment more on the reactor — and they need their help finding a test subject.
"Wait, you… you wanna trap somebody in a time loop? That's messed up… unless they deserve it."
That's why the final scene depicts Danielle as she wakes up from a time loop of her own. It's
unknown whether this was meant to be more of a gag or an actual idea for the sequel,
but a stronger focus on Danielle is certainly one direction the series could go in.
Landon has talked in more detail about his potential "Happy Death
Day 3" plans to the press — and they're not what you might be
expecting. In a discussion with The Wrap about the rumored third film,
Landon mentioned that he wanted a bigger budget that would fit his vision. He told the outlet —
"The third movie was going to be an epic apocalyptic adventure with still elements
of horror. But yeah, we were going to change gears again and it was going to be bigger."
While most of the cast of the first two films haven't said much about possibly returning for
a third "Happy Death Day," there are at least some signs that main star Jessica
Rothe is interested in returning. When talking with CinemaBlend about working
with Rothe, Landon had nothing but positive things to say, joking —
"She's my work wife. She's one of my best friends now. We talk all the time,
still. We're working on something else together right now... I would love to
make movies and create stuff with her for the rest of my life. She's amazing."
It's clear that Landon would love to reunite with Rothe for literally any
project — including "Happy Death Day 3" — and Rothe has expressed the same interest.
Rothe gave her own take on the future of the franchise, telling Collider —
"We only want the movie to happen if it's going to happen in the right way,
to finish out Tree's story, to really give support to the
two incredible films that we made before, and to honor our fan base."
"Guys, I have literally been killing myself to
memorize this s--- for you. Failure is not an option."
Another big reason that "Happy Death Day 3" may never happen is that there have been
some frustrations expressed by Christopher Landon over how Universal handled his last
collaboration with them. "Freaky" was one of the many victims of the COVID pandemic
and was used by Universal for their new same-day streaming and theatrical release strategy. This
caused the film to have a very poor box office performance — much to Landon's frustration.
When Universal tried to do the same release strategy with "Halloween Kills," Landon took
to Twitter to advocate for studios to stop trying this risky strategy. He tweeted —
"Studios: stop gambling with filmmakers and their movies to try and prop up your
fledgling streaming services. This happened to me on 'Freaky' and it destroyed us."
Even a year later, Landon was still harboring some frustrations with how
Universal treated "Freaky," so there could definitely be some unresolved
tensions between the two parties that's keeping "Happy Death Day 3" from being
made. Perhaps it's also why Landon chose not to make his following films with the studio.
While it's nice to imagine that Christopher Landon could simply jump right into making "Happy Death
Day 3," he's very busy with some other exciting projects. Landon's latest film, "We Have A Ghost,"
was released on Netflix in 2023, delivering some fun ghost antics that the whole family can enjoy.
After that, Landon is tasked with a huge endeavor — to write and direct a remake of "Arachnophobia."
It was reported in 2022 that Landon would be joining the remake of the 1990 horror-comedy
classic, and there have been some signs that production on the film is set to start soon. When
speaking with Discussing Film about the status of his "Arachnophobia" remake, Landon teased,
"We're getting super close. The script's done. I've been working
on that for a while now. So now it's just really about getting it together."
With this in mind, it might be a little while
until Landon has the time to work on "Happy Death Day 3."
At one point, "Happy Death Day" was a big original franchise for Blumhouse thanks
to its financial success and wide acclaim within the horror community, fitting in nicely alongside
their other franchises like "Sinister" and "Insidious." Now though, Blumhouse has started
to evolve — and it may be that they have already outgrown the need for another "Happy Death Day."
Blumhouse has some new original horror tentpoles forming, like the wildly successful "M3GAN” and
"The Black Phone" — both of which have sequels coming in the near future. They're starting to
take on bigger, already established franchises with films like their upcoming take on "The
Exorcist," the long-awaited adaptation of the video game "Five Nights at Freddy's,"
and Todd MacFarlane's "Spawn" reboot. While Blumhouse is not against giving their older
franchises new entries — like "Insidious: The Red Door" and "Paranormal Activity:
Next of Kin" — it's becoming increasingly hard to believe that they'd do the same for "Happy Death
Day." The disappointing box office performance of "Happy Death Day 2 U" seems to be a real
sticking point for Universal executives — so if Blumhouse can find more financially successful
avenues with new films, it's doubtful that they'll feel the need to return.
On paper, there are plenty of reasons why Universal and Blumhouse wouldn't want to
do a third "Happy Death Day" film: the poor box office performance of the sequel and strong genre
competition would make it a risky venture. Still, a third installment could still be a worthwhile
way for the studio to pay their respects to one of their less fleshed out franchises, along with the
cast and crew that brought it together. It's clear that Landon, Jessica Rothe, and likely the rest
of the cast are ready to send this series out on an ambitiously high note that'll surely reignite
interest from more than just the core fanbase. As a character, Tree has definitely earned herself
a trilogy of her own — and fans would be thrilled to see her return to the big screen one last time.
Plus, there’s options outside of a theatrical release that Landon has said he's open to. In an
interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Landon mentioned that he'd even be willing to make
"Happy Death Day 3" for Peacock if it meant that it could see the light of day, saying —
"We could do it for Peacock,
it doesn't have to be theatrical. I'd prefer it, but it doesn't have to be."
"I know I've been a bad roommate, but isn't this a bit much? What the hell?!"
After screwing up the theatrical release of "Freaky," a chance
on "Happy Death Day 3" seems like the least Universal and Blumhouse could do.
If the dreams of "Happy Death Day 3" being made can't come true, then Universal and Blumhouse
could try to make the rumors of a "Happy Death Day" and "Freaky" crossover a reality. For
quite some time there have been rumors swirling about a crossover film for Christopher Landon's
two most prominent horror films, and Landon has actually addressed the possibility of
the film's existence. During his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Landon joked,
"Look, Jason Blum is the puppet master. He's pulling all the strings. So if anybody knows,
it's him. I know that Jessica, Kathryn [Newton], and I would
love to get together and make something absolutely ridiculous. So it's possible,
but we really haven't had an actual creative conversation about doing something like that."
While actual plans haven't been made yet, the idea of a crossover film is out there — and
it definitely has potential. More importantly, if it did come out,
it would be the continuation of "Happy Death Day" that fans of the film deserve.