The Old HHN 30 Speculation Thread (2020)

[The Storyteller]

come on guys, enough debate over pennywise vs ghostface vs pinhead. you guys are missing the real horror:
(in all seriousness though, i personally only want IT just because uni could make it a lot better looking than wb did, not that i think it’s necessarily scary. scream is a top tier get for me, and i could go either way with hellraiser)

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

come on guys, enough debate over pennywise vs ghostface vs pinhead. you guys are missing the real horror:View attachment 12044
(in all seriousness though, i personally only want IT just because uni could make it a lot better looking than wb did, not that i think it’s necessarily scary. scream is a top tier get for me, and i could go either way with hellraiser)

I'll be very (pleasantly--with maybe the exception of Ghostface) surprised if any of those four ever show up.

I'm out of the loop, who is that?

 

[DannyPowers]

I'll be very (pleasantly--with maybe the exception of Ghostface) surprised if any of those four ever show up.

I'm out of the loop, who is that?

What do you have against Scream?!?! Go rewatch them all...now!

 

[GA-MBIT]

IT definitely wasn't a fad that'll just go away with time. As other have said, IT will be one of, if not the defining horror franchise of the '10s, and Pennywise has cemented himself as a true blue horror icon on the tier of Ghostface, Freddy, and Jason. You could recognize his silhouette, people see clowns and the first thing they think of is "You'll float too". If the book and TV adaptation didn't already get it there, it's now definitely a part of the zeitgeist. Waiting a few years for rights to get easier won't change how huge it'll be for the franchise to come, nor the crowds that'll show up for it.

Conjuring is tough to gauge because the series is a big seller and I'd argue the name "The Conjuring" and character of Annabelle are also pretty universally recognized, but I think IT beats it by a noticeable margin. Maybe it's the nostalgia that people have for the Tim Curry movie, but I think IT just has more of a place in the public conscience.

I'd argue IT is up there with Purge and Walking Dead, while Conjuring is closer to Insidious and the Jordan Peele brand. They all have their place and will each be remembered as the biggest horror franchises of the decade, but while some aspects of the latter have broken into the general vocabulary (Annabelle, Sunken Place) I don't think they are as widespread as Purge Night or Pennywise will ever be.

Also, Hellraiser isn't anything imo. Gremlins would bring in equal crowds to Hellraiser, if not more. Besides Pinhead, there's just not much there.

 

[Horror Lover]

I still say if Hellraiser came to HHN, it'd be one of the marketing IPs.. you think they'd miss an opportunity to put Pinhead on all the ads and merch?

 

[Ringwraith]

An angle we haven't really been looking at is the fact that maybe they don't need giant IPs to draw in huge crowds this year.

It's Year 30, the past few years have been huge successes to the point where people are saying there are too many people at the event. We keep talking about the lack of huge IPs going forward. Maybe in the next couple years they're going to let off the gas a little bit and let more franchises be created/open themselves up, rights wise. Universal is in a much different place than it was back in '08, and HHN is no longer the all-important backbone of the resort like it used to be. Maybe they let EU/Whatever new events they come up with in the future take the forefront for a couple years and give HHN a little time to breath and just let the originals, smaller or repeat IPs, and the inherent HHN brand do the heavy lifting.

Or maybe I'm just going delirious from Cabin Fever and this is all total nonsense. :yawn:

I've been saying 30 sells itself for a long time, but it hasn't taken on this forum haha

I would put it at the front of that list tbh, I don’t know that Conjuring is that well known among non-horror fans, while I think It is

The Conjuring(surprisingly even just the first film) is actually one of the highest grossing horror films and franchises ever. They draw in the casual jump scare teens with Annabelle and the deep skin crawling horror fans with The Conjuring.

 

[Clive]

Creepy clowns = popular = IT
Creepy dolls = popular = Conjuring/Annabelle

 

[Legacy]

IT was such a huge hit, Chapter 2 made 67% of what Chapter 1 did, where Conjuring 2 actually made more than the first film. And for the talk about how iconic Pennywise, most people had no idea he was actually an alien.

The reason why I rate Conjuring, Scream, and Hellraiser “over” IT is shear volume and continued relevance. New movies for each of those franchises are in the pipe. Each of those franchise have more films, and therefore more methods of “entry.” The IT reboot hit a perfect spot that capitalized on Stranger Things and the renewed interest in the 80s. That interest is starting to wane, and because it’s an homage rather than a genuine article of the time, there’s less appeal in revisiting it.

The further we move away from it, the less of a draw it will be. In three years, it’ll be a tier 3 film.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

And for the talk about how iconic Pennywise, most people had no idea he was actually an alien.

I mean... ok? Those two things aren't mutually exclusive: it's a creepy clown in the sewer. It's an iconic image. How many people know the detailed backstory to Freddy, Jason, or Michael?

 

[Legacy]

I mean... ok? Those two things aren't mutually exclusive: it's a creepy clown in the sewer. It's an iconic image. How many people know the detailed backstory to Freddy, Jason, or Michael?

Not many, but at the end of the day they’re still impossible to kill baddies with weapons - which exactly what they’re presented as. Pennywise is a left field swerve that is just friggin’ weird.

 

[CoopF22]

I'm down for IT or anything in the Conjuring universe. Count me in!

 

[The Storyteller]

And for the talk about how iconic Pennywise, most people had no idea he was actually an alien.

tbf, muschietti sure seemed like he didn’t know this. he somehow got the fact that IT is a series of deadlights but didn’t include the fact that IT’s purest form that humans could comprehend was a female spider? and he completely misinterpreted how important eddie dying from a missing arm was? i’m starting to think we’re better off without IT coming

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

IT was such a huge hit, Chapter 2 made 67% of what Chapter 1 did, where Conjuring 2 actually made more than the first film. And for the talk about how iconic Pennywise, most people had no idea he was actually an alien.

The reason why I rate Conjuring, Scream, and Hellraiser “over” IT is shear volume and continued relevance. New movies for each of those franchises are in the pipe. Each of those franchise have more films, and therefore more methods of “entry.” The IT reboot hit a perfect spot that capitalized on Stranger Things and the renewed interest in the 80s. That interest is starting to wane, and because it’s an homage rather than a genuine article of the time, there’s less appeal in revisiting it.

The further we move away from it, the less of a draw it will be. In three years, it’ll be a tier 3 film.

I agree that It (primarily part 1) came out at a perfect time, but Pennywise clearly has a seat with Michael and the NLC three. While It would've been potentially bigger than Stranger Things at 28, It would still be what you define as a solid tier 2 property for the foreseeable future.

As far as Conjuring, the spin offs are far and away more recognizable and therefore marketable than the main films.

 

[johnathanm]

This is a silly debate.

Hellraiser draws more in the horror community.
Pennywise draws more from the general public/horror-adjacent/Hot Topic crowd.

Which pie is bigger?

Altho, it also may be important to note that “Which pie is bigger” might simplify the debate too much. The “horror community” is already predisposed to attend an event like horror nights, whereas the “GP/Horror-adjacent” crowd seems like the population segment you’d be targeting by marketing big-name IP’s.

All this to say that, from a return on investment perspective, it seems to me like they’d be targeting the “GP” with the IP’s rather than the “horror community.” And maybe that was your point anyway @Fallow -Just my humble take.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Altho, it also may be important to note that “Which pie is bigger” might simplify the debate too much. The “horror community” is already predisposed to attend an event like horror nights, whereas the “GP/Horror-adjacent” crowd seems like the population segment you’d be targeting by marketing big-name IP’s. Just my humble take.

Yeah, and given the choice between the two they’d have more to gain from appealing to the “GP/horror-adjacent” crowd.

Not that any of this matters because again I don’t see any of those four coming, ever.

 

[Ringwraith]

That interest is starting to wane, and because it’s an homage rather than a genuine article of the time, there’s less appeal in revisiting it.

The further we move away from it, the less of a draw it will be. In three years, it’ll be a tier 3 film.

And that's the plot of IT! We can't forget or it will disappear!!

 

[Ringwraith]

Also, I know video game franchises have been spoken of, but is the IP more difficult to get for any of the popular horror franchises? Would video game houses be less of a draw because they're already an interactive experience?

I've been playing too much Left4Dead during this quarantine and it just feels like it could be a fun house.

 

[ChaseTuff]

Also, I know video game franchises have been spoken of, but is the IP more difficult to get for any of the popular horror franchises? Would video game houses be less of a draw because they're already an interactive experience?

I've been playing too much Left4Dead during this quarantine and it just feels like it could be a fun house.

If I recall correctly, both Silent Hill and Resident Evil were ratings flops so...not good on any video game front.

 

[randomguesser]

Also, I know video game franchises have been spoken of, but is the IP more difficult to get for any of the popular horror franchises? Would video game houses be less of a draw because they're already an interactive experience?

The first 2 video game houses weren’t too well received but I also think there wasn’t much effort put into them due to different circumstances. RE2/RE7 could be decent draws that fit, and Dead by Daylight is getting popular.

 

[Brian G.]

Ok I think we’ve milked this convo enough.