In a surprising turn of events, Dimension Films has lost the rights to the widely popular Halloween Franchise. The Wrap reported that inside sources confirmed the franchise, featuring Michael Myers, is now currently being passed around to studios from Miramax Films to locate a new home for Halloween. Just recently it was announced that a sequel to Halloween II was in development, labeled Halloween Returns, and featuring children of the original characters being targeted by Michael Myers (who would have been on death row.) The rumored time for filming was supposed to take place in mid 2015, but with Dimension Films losing their rights and little discussed ever since, it’s a safe bet to assume Halloween Returns is officially scrapped.

The shift in ownership comes as a huge surprise with Bob Weinstein (head of Dimension Films) having involvement in the Halloween franchise for over 20 years. The only person with in-tact connections left is Malek Akkad, whose family has been attached to the Halloween films since the very beginning (whereas Dimension’s first Halloween film was in 1995). It’s definitely nice to know in some sense that some of the people who are responsible for creating an iconic horror series will have creative input in the future of Halloween. One thing is certain – after 10 films, over 150 deaths, and an unforgettable masked man to fear, whoever picks up the rights for Halloween has a lot of pressure to create something spectacular and help the series live on.