Halloween 3D has been put on the back-burner by Dimension Films.

The move was made after Dimension received the first draft of the script, by Todd Farmer, on Friday of last week. With a November start date planned in order to allow new director Patrick Lussier – replacing Rob Zombie in the big chair – time to move onto his Nic Cage-starring 3-D revenge car chase flick, Drive Angry, which begins in April, it’s believed that Dimension boss Bob Weinstein felt that the window was too small to ensure delivery of a quality product.

Now, delaying a film – particularly a horror sequel – in order to improve its quality is an all-too-rare move in Hollywood, so we applaud Weinstein’s decision in this case. Of course, the continuing adventures of Michael Myers will eventually make it to the big screen – 3-D specialist Lussier, who also directed My Bloody Valentine 3-D, will presumably return to the project once Drive Angry is wrapped.

Halloween II – the Zombie-directed sequel that tanked commercially and critically in the States when it opened in August – opens next Friday, October 9.