Audiences are curious about speculation surrounding a remake of I Know What You Did Last Summer rumored for a 2025 release.
Rumors Surrounding I Know What You Did Last Summer Remake
A viral post on Facebook teased a remake of 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer coming to theaters sometime in 2025.
The poster does not include any cast members listed to replace Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Ryan Phillipe from the original film.
Instead, it focuses on the memorable weapon from the 90s horror classic - a fishhook with which Muse Watson's fisherman terrorized the four titular college kids.
The supposed piece of promotional material, which can be seen below, comes with the tagline, "You can't bury the past" and teases a 2025 release date in theaters.
Unfortunately, this poster is fake, being confirmed as such through a comment revealing it was a fanmade created by Creepy Duck Design.
However, this does not mean I Know What You Did Last Summer is off the table for good, as Deadline reported Sony Pictures was working on a remake of the movie in September 2014.
This film was set to feature Mike Flanagan as the co-writer and director alongside partner Jeff Howard, with Fast and Furious producer Neal Moritz returning for the remake after producing the original as well.
The report noted the remake was high on Sony's priority list and the company wanted to get it ready for release in 2016.
During the promotional tour for 2016's Hugh alongside his wife Kate Siegel, Flanagan spoke about the remake with Bloody Disgusting, explaining that "fifteen drafts of that script [existed]" at that time:
Flanagan: "My connection to that was strictly writing. We delivered a script to Sony."
Bloody Disgusting: "Alright, so a script exists?"
Flanagan: "Oh, yeah. Like fifteen drafts of that script exist. From what I understand with where that project is, is that the producers and the studio were thrilled with the script and they were just getting started trying to figure out how to proceed with it."
Siegel: "And finding so many children to murder."
Flanagan: [jokingly] "Yeah it’s just killing kids. The whole thing. But that one was always me and Jeff Howard, who have written together so much. It was always just a writing job that we were thrilled to have but there’s never been any conversation about me directing."
In 2021, Bloody Disgusting obtained access to that script, sharing story details from the unmade I Know What You Did Last Summer remake.
Wanting it to have some of the same vibe as the original film, this remake was going to be a more original story that would not have taken the same story beats as its predecessor.
This take would have avoided using some of the slasher elements from the first movie, as the original I Know What You Did Last Summer book author Lois Duncan was vocal about her distaste for them in the 1997 film.
The story would have opened up in Antigua with Matt Canton and his sister, Lauren, along with his best friend, Kyle, and his ex-girlfriend, Jenna. These four celebrate the summer after their graduation before college, with the quarter finding a dead body during the partying.
Matt meets a young woman and ends up getting drugged before showing up at the police station and being questioned about a missing woman. All this comes before he's imprisoned and extradited as the story moves to a year later.
Eventually found not guilty and let free, Matt and his friends are terrorized by messages with the phrase "I Know," with villains and creepy figures stalking the main characters and killing people off in an increasingly violent manner
Howard also spoke with the outlet and explained that it was "hard to understand why some things get made and some things don't" in terms of the movie, making it clear that nobody was at fault for what happened. He also lost some interest in making the film when he was told the ending had to be redone so that it was less intense:
"The ending that it was meant to have is not necessarily a big, crowd-pleasing ending. It’s not even a giant downer. It’s hard to understand why some things get made and some things don’t, sometimes. This thing was kind of easy to understand. Nobody was wrong in this situation, in my mind. Once it became clear that the ending was going to have to be softened, I think the interest in making the movie softened in tandem."
Will I Know What You Did Last Summer Ever Happen?
While the news regarding a 2025 remake of I Know What You Did Last Summer appears to be fake, other reports breathed new life into the story.
According to a Deadline report from February 2023, Sony looked to give 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer a full-blown sequel, with Thor: Love and Thunder writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson being tapped to direct the film. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. were also reportedly in talks to reprise their roles, and Leah McKendrick was tapped to write the script while Neal H. Moritz was hired as a producer.
Robinson and McKendrick pitched the idea in 2022, with the idea of bringing back the original cast being a key point after the success of the recently revitalized Scream franchise that did something similar.
Robinson's Netflix project Do Revenge was another major factor as executives felt she could tap into something successful with this new sequel as well.
That report also explained that it was important to Sony not to reboot the story, rather favoring a passing of the torch-style sequel where the original cast would lead a new generation of stars into the sequel and beyond.
While nothing official has come of either the sequel or the reboot ideas yet, fans remain intrigued by the idea of this horror/thriller saga being reborn for a new audience.
1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer is available for rent and purchase on most online marketplaces.
