Is Fundraising the Only Way Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral Will Ever Happen?

Jeepers creepers where’d you get those peepers,
Jeepers creepers where’d you get those perks?

When the introductory Jeepers Creepers movie was released by Capital Films in 2001, it was met with box office success and critical acclaim as something different in the creature-feature, horror film game. The movie grossed $38,000,000 in ticket sales in the United States, more than covering its production budget of $10,000,000, and earned another $21,000,000 at the foreign box office; landing it as the #65 movie of that year. As with most Hollywood franchises, when a title is successful and earns triple that of the production cost, a sequel must be greenlit and in 2003 the winged, body part snatching ghoul returned in Jeepers Creepers 2. Released through United Artists, the film was almost exactly as lucrative as the first film and even fared slightly better overseas. After another success story in the franchise, things went dark and nothing was heard of in regards to The Creeper for a long time.

Despite reports that Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral was in the pipeline ever since its predecessor left theaters in November 2003, concrete stories and fan theories didn’t grip the internet until 2008. Here’s what we know about the third installment in the franchise seven years later: It will take place 23 years after the last film – which is on par with The Creeper’s feeding cycle, it will start as a prequel in the Wild West before switching to the present time, and the infamous truck will return as will writer/director Victor Salva, Darry (Justin Long) and Trish (Gina Phillips). The script has been finished for some time now and there is talks of eventually releasing Jeepers Creepers 3 as a straight-to-DVD movie, which isn’t a bad thing considering the fact that The Grudge, Joy Ride and Wrong Turn have all survived on this market. There’s only one big problem: MGM, or whoever is backing this title as of late, is unable to secure financing for the film. If you remember, MGM Entertainment almost went out of business in the mid-2000s due to debt and loans.

This would explain why Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral is at a standstill when it comes to getting out of development Hell. For whatever reason, the horror film genre is always looked at as the ugly stepchild of the cinematic world and with MGM Entertainment trying to dig themselves out of a billion dollar debt, I can see why they would be cautious about dishing out $2,000,000 to make this proposed title a reality. Twelve years since the last entry in the franchise was released, is there still a yearning for The Creeper among horror fans? I would certainly think so. The film’s IMDB message board is as alive now as it was seven years ago. Justin Long is always asked out it. Fan pages, fan made posters and fan made trailers pop up on the internet all the time; as do new reports that the movie is finally moving forward (which all prove to be false). Do I think that Jeepers Creepers 3 will be a massive success story that will reboot the franchise? No. But I think it will at least make it’s budget back and give fans the last hurrah that they – we – so desperately want.

So where does that leave us? A script that’s completed. The director and old characters attached to return. A major studio with minor interest in the project. Sadly, I think the only place to go from here is to fundraising sites, especially Kickstarter. Major projects have been financed over the last few years by auctioning high priced perks in return for crowd funded budget. “Reading Rainbow” received $5.5 million dollars through backers to resurrect the show after its 2006 cancellation. The Veronica Mars movie happened because donations tallied $5.7 million. After “Blue Mountain State” was cancelled after its third season in 2011, fans of the comedy show rallied to collect $1.5 million through Kickstarter to fund the farewell movie. And, most recently, a sequel to 2001’s Super Troopers is now in the works after fundraisers donated $4.4 million to the next film from Broken Lizard. While it’s true that no major horror film has been successfully crowd funding yet, maybe Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral can be the first one to break the mold and amass a huge budget, enough to put it into production by the end of the year.

The problem with this, though, as always, funds would come directly from you, out of your pocket. There would need to be a considerable amount of donations made and I just don’t know if people are ready to take a gamble on the film, just like MGM Entertainment. Really, what I think would hurt the campaign the most is the general public’s knowledge of writer/director Victor Salva’s very much illegal past. His illegal past will strike a nerve with basically any sensible human being, so, if anything, I think Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral could thrive as a Kickstarter campaign if a new executive producer and director were to be attached. Folks don’t want to donate money and support someone with his past. Hurtful, I know, but realistic. If the former character cameos are toned down to only a couple lines and the production goes with a cast of lesser known actors as leads, then I think more of the budget could go towards actual production and result in a more worthwhile product. Of course, these are just the ramblings of an online horror journalist, one that would love to see The Creeper return one day.

Would you donate to a Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral Kickstarter campaign? Comment here, on Facebook or Twitter and let me know!

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