In 1990, a little film by the name of “Tremors“ sent some powerful ripples through the horror film community. The writing team of Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson along with director and co-writer, Ron Underwood dropped upon the world a movie about subterranean monsters that terrorized the small town of Perfection, Nevada. It was a cult hit that flourished once it hit video rental stores and managed to spawn six sequels in addition to a short-lived television show. Die-hard franchise fans will know that after “Tremors 4: The Legend Begins,” Universal Pictures shifted control of the series away from its original creators. We’re happy to report that most of that control has shifted back.
The trio of Maddock, Wilson, and Underwood, form the production company, Stampede Entertainment. While they had a script for “Tremors 5” that they wanted to pursue, Universal decided to go in a different direction and removed creative control from Stampede. So, “Tremors” five, six, and seven did not feature any input from the original creative team. Ever since, Stampede has wanted to regain control of the franchise, and to an extent they now have.
As announced on their official website, Stampede Entertainment has won back the rights to the first “Tremors” script. What this means is somewhat complicated but also gives the team the ability to move forward with their characters and concept. Effectively, the rights to the first film still belong to Universal, so Stampede cannot license anything from that film, including the logo. What they can do however, is take those characters and create a new film or other project. One of those projects is hopefully going to be centered around Kevin Bacon‘s character of Val.
If you’re not familiar with “Tremors” as a whole, Val was the lead character of the first film, along with Earl played by the late Fred Ward. They fought the subterranean graboid creatures with the help of the townsfolk. Since then, Val never reappeared and the focus of the series would eventually shift over to the character of Burt Gummer, played by Michael Gross. Bacon has since expressed desire to return to the role, and even starred in a pilot episode for what could have been a second TV series for the franchise. It wasn’t picked up, but Stampede is hoping but not promising, to get Bacon back in some way shape or form.
“We’ve been exploring what this may allow us to do, so here’s the update. First, we aren’t reading outside idea,” Stampede themselves put it. “We are discussing a return-to-Perfection sequel, and one or two more outlandish ideas featuring graboids in new settings. Whatever we decide to pitch to Hollywood, it will not be a remake the first movie with a new cast. Nor will it be a version of our original script for Tremors 5 (a question that is frequently sent to the Stampede FAQ) We are considering ideas that feature the return of Kevin Bacon as Val, but no promises!”
They also announced a novelization of the first film, penned by Christian Francis, will hopefully be coming out. All in all, it’s a good time to be a “Tremors” fan. We’ll provide more updates as Stampede hopefully moves along with whatever they’re prepping.
