Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and ultimately granted New Line rights to the Jason Voorhees character, but retained control of the "Friday the 13th" title. New Line placed Cunningham's idea for a Freddy-versus-Jason film on hold, prompting him to generate a different script to precede that plot line. Cunningham's original idea would later manifest as "Freddy vs. Jason" in 2003. The film marked Adam Marcus's debut feature; having just graduated from film school, Marcus was originally attached to direct "My Boyfriend's Back" (1993) for Touchstone Pictures, but the studio's parent company, Walt Disney Studios, did not want to hire a first-time director, and Marcus was
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan committee filed a complaint against Paramount Pictures. Released on July 28, 1989, the film grossed $14.3 million at the U.S. box office, which was the lowest gross of the series at that time, second-lowest U.S. gross in the series to date. The film received both criticism and praise from critics for its implementation of humor, while others deemed it the worst film in the series thus far. It was followed by "", released in 1993. Two graduating high school students are aboard a houseboat on Crystal Lake. Jim tells his girlfriend Suzy the legend of Jason Voorhees, before playing a