Forever on the hunt for a pot of box-office gold, Lionsgate is making yet another new Leprechaun movie.
The inexplicably long-running horror franchise — there are somehow eight Leprechaun movies to date — will now get a new entry, written by screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. Their credits include numerous other horror movies, like Saw IV, V, VI, and 3D.
Producer Oren Koules told Deadline “After producing all the Saw films, and twenty-three wonderful years at Lionsgate, I’m thrilled to be working again with the Lionsgate team, Patrick and Marcus, and my son, Miles, on a terrifying new way into the rich world of Leprechaun.”
(Well of course it’s a rich world. It’s got a pot of gold in it!)
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That’s basically the whole premise of the films, in fact. In each of the movies, a violent leprechaun (played by Willow’s Warwick Davis in the original film and the first batch of sequels) protects his gold from meddlers. The first movie in the series is known for featuring a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston in one of her very first film roles; the sequels are known for their increasingly outlandish premises and titles, like Leprechaun 4: In Space and Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood.
That one came out in 2003 and was the final installment with Davis in the title role. After that, two attempts were made to relaunch the franchise. 2014’s Leprechaun: Origins starred WWE wrestler Hornswoggle in the lead role, while 2018’s Leprechaun Returns was a direct sequel to the original movie (a la Terminator: Dark Fate just continuing the story of T2 while ignoring Rise of the Machines, Salvation, and Genisys). That one starred Linden Porco as the Leprechaun.
Anyway, that’s the history of Leprechaun to now. Do you think these new filmmakers will have the guts to make a Back 3 Tha Hood?
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Gallery Credit: Claire Epting