Texas Chain Saw Massacre Franchise Rights Being Shopped

Leatherface could be finding a new home soon as the rights to Texas Chain Saw Massacre are reportedly being shopped. Deadline reports that Verve, who have represented the rights to the iconic slasher series since 2017, are doing so again as the rights are on the market.

The franchise was most recently with Legendary, who produced the 2022 Netflix Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. No sequel came out of that and Verve is now taking bids for the franchise. Deadline reports that among the interested parties are JT Mollner and Roy Lee, who wrote/directed and produced last year’s hit Strange Darling. The report notes that if Mollner gets a script hammered out that Glen Powell is said to be potentially interested. Lionsgate and A24 have been said to be interested in that iteration, but there are several other potential interested parties as well.

Verve said in a statement, “Verve has not officially submitted the property into any filmmakers, producers or buyers. Because this is such a hot and iconic horror property, packages are pre-emptively being brought to Verve.”

The original film released in 1974 and was a landmark film in the horror genre, helping to invent the format of the slasher film along with Black Christmas which released almost simultaneously with it. Chainsaw spawned a franchise that has included nine films in total along with books, comics, video games and more. The film franchise has grossed $252.8 million worldwide in total, with a total combined production budget of about $50 million.