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  • Acting for Two:
    • Nancy Kyes played Annie in Halloween and for her brief cameo as a corpse in Halloween II (credited as "Nancy Loomis" for both). She also provided the voice for Alice's friend Sally on the phone in the latter film. In Halloween III, she played Dr. Dan Challis' ex-wife for one brief scene. She was a regular in all of John Carpenter's early films.
    • Danielle Harris played Jamie in Halloween 4 and Halloween 5, while the role was recast for 6 (see below). She returned to the franchise for both of Rob Zombie's films, now playing Annie.
    • P. J. Soles, who played Lynda in the original film, was offered a cameo in H20, but that part ultimately went to Janet Leigh. However, Soles did later have a voice-only cameo as Allyson's teacher in the 2018 reboot.
  • Actor-Shared Background: Donald Pleasence actually was a POW during World War II like Doctor Loomis.
  • Billing Displacement: The original film had Donald Pleasence billed ahead of then-unknown Jamie Lee Curtis, although his screentime was less. By the time of Halloween II three years later, Curtis was enough of a star for them to employ diagonal billing, although she only had about 10 minutes of screentime in this film.
  • California Doubling: Most of the series takes place in Illinois, in the fictional town of Haddonfield, but no Halloween film has been shot in that state:
    • The first two films, H20, and the first Rob Zombie film were shot entirely in California, mostly around the same neighborhood in Pasadena. However, only the opening scene of H20 took place in Illinois, in the town of Langdon. The rest actually did take place in California.
    • The fourth, fifth, and sixth films were shot near Salt Lake City, Utah. Reshoots for the sixth were also done in Los Angeles.
    • Resurrection was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
    • The second Rob Zombie film was shot mostly in Atlanta, Georgia, with some scenes shot in Connecticut and brief pickups shot on a sound-stage in Los Angeles.
    • The 2018 reboot/sequel was shot in Charleston, South Carolina.
    • Kills was shot in Wilmington, North Carolina.
    • Ends was shot in Savannah, Georgia.
    • Averted with the third film, which did take place entirely in California in addition to being shot there.
  • Channel Hop: Or rather "Studio Hop," since the franchise has a history of this:
    • The original film was produced independently through Irwin Yablan's Compass International, who also distributed the film themselves through Falcon International because the major studios were uninterested, though the prints were struck through MGM. Warner-Columbia released the film in some international territories. Today the film is owned by Compass's successor Trancas International (under the "Compass International" label for legal reasons). On home video, the film was originally released exclusively by Blockbuster, and later Media Home Entertainment (VHS) and The Criterion Collection (LaserDisc). Anchor Bay also released the film numerous times through VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray for almost twenty years before Lionsgate took over the home video rights, and released the film on 4K UHD. Their license expired after a few years, and Shout! Factory's Scream Factory branch took over home video rights, and released the film on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD in 2021.
    • Halloween II (1981) and Halloween III: Season of the Witch were co-produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Universal, who also distributed. Universal has released both films to various home video formats themselves, but has also licensed both to GoodTimes Home Entertainment (VHS and DVD) and Scream Factory (DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD). Universal would later return to the franchise in 2018, with Blumhouse producing the second reboot series.
    • After III disappointed critically and commercially, Moustapha Akkad, who executive produced the first three films, leased out John Carpenter and Debra Hill's share of the rights, and produced Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and released both independently through his Galaxy International Pictures and 20th Century Fox (Warner Bros. in some overseas territories). The films are owned directly by Trancas International, and both were released to VHS by CBS/Fox, and later to VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray by Anchor Bay. Lionsgate briefly held home video rights before Scream Factory licensed them in 2021 for Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases. 20th Century Studios, now under Disney, still has television and streaming rights to both, and they usually open with the 80s Fox logo and fanfare whenever they play on TV.
    • After 5 underperformed, the series was sent back into development hell, and Miramax bought the rights to the series (beating out New Line) after Akkad's exclusive rights expired, and released Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, and Halloween: Resurrection through their Dimension Films label, with distribution by Disney/Buena Vista. They were released to VHS and DVD by Buena Vista, and later on Blu-ray through Echo Bridge Home Entertainment and later Lionsgate in the US, and Alliance Atlantis in Canada. Paramount now distributes the films, due to their minority stake in Miramax, and they licensed all three to Scream Factory in 2022 for a 4K UHD/Blu-ray triple feature boxset. eOne has Canadian rights to these films.
    • The Weinsteins took Dimension Films and the sequel rights with them to The Weinstein Company, who released the first Rob Zombie-directed film through MGM and the sequel themselves. Genius Products and later Cinedigm released the first film to DVD/Blu-ray and Sony Pictures released the second. Alliance Atlantis released both in Canada. The rights to both films, along with the rest of the TWC catalog, was purchased by Lantern Entertainment (later Spyglass Media Group), who sold them to Lionsgate in 2021.
    • After the Weinsteins failed to put a new film into production on time, the rights reverted back to Miramax, Trancas, and John Carpenter, who all worked with Blumhouse to produce the new direct sequel to the original film. The film was distributed again by Universal, through their first look deal with Blumhouse. The two sequels to that film, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends are also distributed by Universal, who joined in to co-produce the latter film.
    • With the release of Ends the franchise will once again revert back to Miramax (now partially under Paramount) and Trancas since Blumhouse had a 3-film deal, and producer Jason Blum says he has no plans on producing any more films in the series.
    • It should be noted that producer Moustapha Akkad and/or his son Malek Akkad have been involved with all the films in varying degrees, with their production company Trancas International, who owns the original film (under the name "Falcoln International Pictures") and 4 and 5 outright.
    • In 2014, Anchor Bay teamed up with Scream Factory to release a then-complete collection of the franchise, licensing Curse, H20, and Resurrection from Miramax, and securing the Rob Zombie films through Anchor Bay's deal with the Weinsteins.
  • Dawson Casting: The series seems to love this:
    • 17/18 year old Laurie Strode played by 20-year old Jamie Lee Curtis. Which isn't too bad, except that in Halloween II, Laurie was the same age, but Jamie Lee Curtis was now 23.
    • Teenagers Annie and Lynda were played by actors in their late 20's/early 30's in both the original and the remake.
    • Ellie Cornell and various other actors in their early/mid-20's were cast as the teenage Rachel and friends in Halloween 4 and 5.
    • Made even funnier is when they get one of the Trope Namers, Michelle Williams of Dawson's Creek fame and one of the few actors to avert this trope, to play one of the main teens in Halloween H20.
  • Franchise Zombie:
    • John Carpenter, in a 1982 interview, stated that Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis both died at the end of Halloween II and that he intended to make the series into an anthology "like The Twilight Zone, but on a larger scale." After the financial flop of Halloween III, Carpenter opted out of doing any more films in the series and signed away the rights to producer Moustapha Akkad, who quickly revived the original formula. Michael Myers went on to appear in ten more films after his canonical death.
    • Rob Zombie expressed disappointment at the studio's initial plans to resurrect Michael for a third remake film, despite his insistence (and refusal to direct) that his Halloween II was the end of the franchise. In Rob's case, it ended up being a zigzagged trope, as although another Halloween was eventually greenlit, it's an alternate sequel to the original film, with no connection to the remakes.
  • The Other Darrin:
    • Michael Myers has been played by a number of different actors, since we usually don't see his face. He was portrayed by Will Sandin as a child and Nick Castle as an adult in the original film (with Tony Moran for the shot where Laurie pulls off his mask), Adam Gunn as a child and Dick Warlock as an adult in the second, Erik Preston as a child and George P. Wilbur as an adult in the fourth (with Tom Morga in one scene) and Curse, Don Shanks in the fifth, Chris Durand in H20, Brad Loree in Resurrection, Tyler Mane as adult Michael in both Rob Zombie films, Daeg Faerch and Chase Wright Vanek as young Michael in Zombie's Halloween and Halloween II respectively, and James Jude Courtney in the 2018 film and it’s sequels (with Nick Castle reprising his role for some key scenes).
    • Lindsey Wallace was played by child actress Kyle Richards in the original film (see below) and in archive footage in the second. Leslie L. Rohland played the character for her cameo in the fourth film, before Richards reprised her role decades later in Halloween Kills.
    • Tommy Doyle was played by child actor Brian Andrews in the original film (with archive footage in the second), and Danny Raye for his cameo in the fourth, but Paul Rudd took over the role in The Curse of Michael Myers (in his feature film debut). Contrary to popular belief, Brian Andrews was never sought to reprise the role (although he was considered for a separate cameo). For Halloween Kills, Rudd was offered the chance to reprise the role of adult Tommy, but he was unavailable due to Avengers: Endgame and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, so Anthony Michael Hall took over. Brian Andrews claims he was contacted about a possible role in the film (it's unclear if it was for Tommy or not), but refused to negotiate a contract without an agent, and the producers moved on.
    • Jamie Lloyd was played by Danielle Harris in both 4 and 5 as a child, but J.C. Brandy took over the role as a teenager for Curse. Harris was interested in reprising the role, but changed her mind after the role was heavily reduced, her pay was minuscule, and her importance in the series was minimized and insulted by the executives.
    • Dr. Terence Wynn was played by Robert Phalen for his one scene in the original film, Don Shanks (who also played Michael Myers) for his brief faceless appearance in the fifth, and Mitchell Ryan for his expanded appearance in Curse.
    • After Donald Pleasence had passed away, Dr. Loomis's vocal cameo in H20 was provided by Tom Kane instead, and by Colin Mahan in Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills. His live cameo in Kills was performed in makeup/prosthetics by Tom Jones Jr. with Mahan dubbing the voice.
  • Referenced by...:
  • What Could Have Been:
    • The plan for Season of the Witch was to turn Halloween into a Genre Anthology film series, as Carpenter and Debra Hill felt that the story laid out in the first two films was finished.note  After Season of the Witch was poorly received, Carpenter and Hill sold their involvement in the series and the remaining producers took the series back to being about Michael Myers.
    • After Curse's poor critical and commercial reception, the next entry was initially greenlit as a direct-to-video project, before Jamie Lee Curtis signed on and the series was given a soft reboot.
    • Had the Thorn storyline continued, then Tommy Doyle would return to replace Loomis as Michael's main enemy.
    • There was also plans for—get this—an anime based on the series. Outside of a short announcement, however, nothing came of it.
    • There was also talk of a planned crossover with the Hellraiser franchise. Word has it that either Moustapha Akkad killed the idea, or it was never brought into production at all and was just a rumor.
      • One well known pitch for the unproduced crossover involved the revelation that young Michael was possessed by Samhain, The Lord of The Dead, who wanted to escape the Cenobite hell (explaining why he can't be killed).
      • Michael was also considered to appear in a planned sequel to Freddy vs. Jason before the producers decided to bring in Ash Williams instead, then canceling the film due to rights and scheduling issues and retooling the project into a comic book.
    • Another sequel to Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007) was originally greenlit in 2011 as Halloween 3D with Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer writing, for an October 2012 release, but the project fell hard into Development Hell, and was ultimately canceled. Scout Taylor-Compton was to return as Laurie and Tom Atkins (who played Dr. Daniel Challis in Halloween III) was to play her therapist. According to Atkins, the critical and financial failure of Lussier's Drive Angry is to blame. The underwhelming critical and financial reception of Rob Zombie's Halloween II (2009) also didn't help. Notably, Zombie himself considered his sequel the end of his rebooted Halloween and disapproved of the idea of another sequel.
    • A project titled Halloween Returns, with Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (The Collector (2009), later Saw movies) writing/directing was greenlit in 2015, and was so far ahead into production, the script had been finished, and shooting locations had already been scouted in Louisiana. Supposedly, it was to be another direct sequel to the original Halloween II, told from the perspective of a security guard, with Michael Myers on death row. Then the project was delayed indefinitely, supposedly due to Melton and Dunstan's disagreements with the Weinsteins. Because The Weinstein Company took too long getting a new Halloween film off the ground, the rights reverted back to Miramax, canceling the project. Halloween (2018) eventually resulted after this, finally taking the franchise out of its nine year dormancy.
    • Twice Michael was considered for a guest character spot in Mortal Kombat.
      • The first attempt was for Mortal Kombat X which would have been a tie in for the eventually cancelled Returns. Had this happened it would have been the first official crossover he would have had with Jasonnote .
      • The second attempt was for Mortal Kombat 11 but this time the rights owners simply told Netherrealm Studios no, as revealed on Twitter by series creator Ed Boon.

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