The plan to make another Halloween movie has been around for quite some time now.  Remember when Halloween 3D was set for a 2010 release, then got bumped to 2012 and then it was removed from The Weinstein Company’s schedule entirely?  Well, apparently that isn’t stopping Dimension Films and producer Malek Akkad from trying to make it happen again.

It was just reported that a script for the next installment, Halloween: The Next Chapter, will be turned in in the fall of 2015 and that it won’t be a direct sequel to the Rob Zombie films.  However, then Akkad chimed in to refute those claims.  Hit the jump to find out how it all played out.

This all started with Schmoes Know who claimed Akkad and Dimension were running with the title Halloween: The Next Chapter and that the film will offer a “fresh new take on the Halloween legacy.”

Let’s pause it there.  A fresh new take?  After those dreadful Rob Zombie films, that sounds like a brilliant idea!  We certainly don’t need any more of Sheri Moon Zombie on that white horse nor do we really need Scout Taylor-Compton’s Laurie Strode either.  Her performance is fine, but my biggest issue with the Rob Zombie reboot films is that they ditch a good amount of character development in exchange for senseless and extremely brutal killings – and that’s coming from someone who enjoys her fair share of gore.

Schmoes Know didn’t offer up any story details and also didn’t know if Taylor-Compton is in or out, but back in April, when there was talk at Cannes that TWC was finally ready to make this thing happen, Taylor-Compton tweeted this.

Even though the rumored subtitle isn't accurate, it’s worth considering because The Next Chapter would suggest we’d get a whole new crop of characters, making the folks at Shock Till You Drop wonder, “Could it feature Laurie Strode as the killer?”  Again, I’ve never cared much for Taylor-Compton’s version of the character, but that could be an interesting scenario.

STYD is also the outlet that actually reached out to Akkad when this report surfaced to find out whether or not this whole Halloween: The Next Chapter thing is the real deal or not.  Akkad told them that it’s not and then this popped up on the Halloween Facebook page as well:

“We’ve been getting a lot of e-mails/tweets/Facebook messages lately about a project called Halloween: The Next Chapter. It seems that’s the latest buzz surrounding the next Halloween film and again it’s just not true. As we stated before, a new installment of Halloween is indeed in on track and moving forward and we are currently developing a script, to finally bring Michael back to the theaters!

More information will be released over the coming months and exclusively at Halloweenmovies.com. So make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, so you can know first!”

Well, I guess that’s that.  It’s not that the title Halloween: The Next Chapter was a total game changer, but it did suggest that the new narrative would veer away from the Rob Zombie storyline, which is something I’ve been hoping for for seven years now.  Fingers crossed that’s still the plan no matter what title they choose, but, on the bright side, at least we now know the project’s on track.  Then again, we’ve been under that impression before and look what happened.