Jon Watts Wants to Make Seven CLOWN Sequels: “I’d Love For It to Be Like Evil Dead 2”
Before Jon Watts became the filmmaker who brought Spider-Man swinging into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he started his career with a much darker, and bloodier, film: Clown.
Now, more than a decade after that horrifying debut, Watts says he wants to return to his roots and turn Clown into a full-blown franchise.
With Germany’s Turbine Medien giving the 2014 horror flick a fresh 4K Ultra HD release this week, Watts reflected on the film’s potential and what could come next.
“I still see a lot of potential in the premise, so when I watch it now, I’m like, ‘Oh, we could have done so much more there.’ I’d love for it to be like Evil Dead 2. I’d love to tell the same story, but jump off to even crazier places,” he told Variety.
Clown follows a dad who puts on an old clown costume to save his son’s birthday party, only to discover that the suit is cursed, and it won’t come off. What starts as a simple good deed spirals into grotesque body horror, turning a father into a literal monster.
Watts says he and co-writer Christopher Ford already have plans for where the nightmare could go next.
“We’d want to do seven of them, make it a real long-term franchise like the Leprechaun or something like that. There are a lot of facets to the story that we’re still interested in telling, because it’s great. It’s kind of an evergreen premise where anyone can put on the suit.”
That’s a wild concept, and totally fitting for a horror saga that began as a fake trailer that was posted online, pretending to be a lost Eli Roth movie.
When Roth actually saw it, he loved the idea and jumped on board as a producer, helping Watts turn the concept into a feature. While its theatrical release from Dimension Films was poorly handled, Clown found new life in the horror community and developed a passionate cult following.
Since then, Watts has spent years in the superhero realm, directing Spider-Man: Homecoming, Far From Home, and No Way Home, but he recently made his way back to horror. He conceived the story and produced Final Destination: Bloodlines.
With Clown now back in the spotlight, fans can only hope Watts and Ford get the chance to unleash their twisted sequel ideas. If Evil Dead 2 is the tone they’re chasing, if it gets made, we’re in for something gleefully gory, over-the-top, and completely unhinged.