Viewing order · Friday the 13th
The Friday the 13th movies in order
Twelve films, one hockey mask and a killer who only shows up properly in the second one. Box office and story order per Wikipedia.
By the Horror Planet editors · Updated November 9, 2026
Release order
| Year | Film | Director | Worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Friday the 13th | Sean S. Cunningham | $59.75M |
| 1981 | Friday the 13th Part 2 | Steve Miner | $21.72M |
| 1982 | Friday the 13th Part III | Steve Miner | $36.69M |
| 1984 | Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter | Joseph Zito | $32.98M |
| 1985 | Friday the 13th: A New Beginning | Danny Steinmann | $21.93M |
| 1986 | Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives | Tom McLoughlin | $19.47M |
| 1988 | Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood | John Carl Buechler | $19.17M |
| 1989 | Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan | Rob Hedden | $14.34M |
| 1993 | Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday | Adam Marcus | $15.94M |
| 2002 | Jason X | James Isaac | $17.10M |
| 2003 | Freddy vs. Jason | Ronny Yu | $116.60M |
| 2009 | Friday the 13th | Marcus Nispel | $92.67M |
How the timeline fits together
- Parts 1 to 4 run as one story. The first film's killer is Pamela Voorhees. Jason takes over in Part 2 and only finds the hockey mask in Part III. The Final Chapter picks up straight after Part III (Wikipedia).
- Parts 5 to 8 follow Tommy Jarvis, then the undead Jason he accidentally revives in Jason Lives. A New Beginning is the odd one out: its killer is a copycat (Wikipedia).
- Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X push the series into body-swapping and outer space. Jason X is set more than 400 years in the future (Wikipedia).
- Freddy vs. Jason is a crossover with A Nightmare on Elm Street and the biggest earner of the lot, at $116.6 million worldwide (Wikipedia).
- Friday the 13th (2009) restarted the continuity. A planned sequel was dropped in 2010 (Wikipedia).
How we'd watch them
Release order, and do not skip Part 2. If you only have one night, watch the 1980 original, Part III and Jason Lives, which is the funniest and smartest of the sequels. Save Jason X for a crowd.
Crystal Lake and what's next
No new film has been made since 2009, in part because of a long rights fight. Screenwriter Victor Miller won the domestic rights to the original screenplay on September 30, 2021 (Wikipedia). The franchise moved to television instead: Crystal Lake, an eight-episode prequel series from Peacock and A24 with Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees, premiered on October 15, 2026 (Peacock).