Chalk this up as a big time rumor, but the source article is claiming to have exclusive knowledge via a very reliable source that the oft rumored Phantasm 5/Phantasm’s End is finally going to get underway this year.
It’s all speculation thus far, but if it does turn out to be true, this will be a big deal for horror fans, as this thing has been in development about as long as Aykroyd’s Ghostbusters 3 script. It goes back to around the time Pulp Fiction won accolades, and Roger Avary wrote a script called “Phantasm’s End” that, as the title suggests, would be the final chapter in the Phantasm saga.
I’ve read the script, and it’s pretty epic. It would take a lot of money, and that’s one of the reasons the script never got made. The Phantasm films have for the most part been very low budget. The only one to be “big budget” is Phantasm II that was bankrolled by Universal, with a few strings (recast one of the leads, and make sure the plot isn’t too complicated.)
The one thing that is still unknown is whether the script for the proposed Phantasm 5 is the original Avary script, but reworked, or another script that Don Coscarelli wrote himself to match the budget he’s being given.
I’m banking on it being an original script by him, although it’s known that few things from Avary’s screenplay made their way into the Phantasm IV film (the boob balls.), so it might not be out of the realm of possibility that some of Avary’s ideas will make their way into the film. That is if it’s actually being made, which I hope it is. Angus Scrimm is not getting any younger, and we all want to see Reggie be a ladies man before he just turns into a grumpy dirty old man.
So let’s all hope that we will be able to hear The Tall Man say “BOOOOOOOOYYYYYY!!!!!” one last time.
source: dreadcentral