Stephen King has become just as notorious in film as he is in literature if not even more so in his nearly half a century long career. Novels such as It and Carrie have been made into films multiple times within the span of a few decades, not to mention dozens of others that have been adapted by Hollywood since the 1970’s. He continues to have a strong presence in Hollywood to this day with his works aging like fine wine, continuing to be successfully reimagined for today’s moviegoers and generating impressive numbers at the box office. Now it looks like we will see once again if the work of Stephen King can truly withstand the test of time with the sci-fi horror movie Firestarter getting a remake in the near future.
Firestarter was first adapted into a film back in 1984, four years after King originally wrote the novel that the movie adapted. The sci-fi thriller starred a nine year old Drew Barrymore whose family develops supernatural abilities as the byproduct of a government experiment, leading them down a strange and sinister path. Though the 80’s effort was met with less than stellar reviews it looks like King’s novel will join It and Carrie and receive the silver screen treatment once again: heavyweight production company Blumhouse Productions has signed up to produce the latest Stephen King remake with Firestarter. The project is set to be directed by Keith Thomas and will star Hollywood favorite Zac Efron, who has been exploring the darker side of film recently when he played serial killer Ted Bundy a few years ago.This week Blumhouse released the first image from the film for eager fans and that image is featured below.
King was barely in literature for a decade before making the leap into film, with the aforementioned Carrie releasing in 1976 and just nine years after he sold his first short story. Since then he has worked on dozens of films while also lending his talents to television, writing an episode of The X-Files in 1999 and appearing in a number of small roles in shows like Sons of Anarchy. He has certainly selected a good partner in Blumhouse to remake Firestarter who is known for their work in horror and thriller with films such as Paranormal Activity and Insidious. Fans of King or Blumhouse, or maybe even both, are sure to be excited about the project and can remain on the lookout for further details in the near future.
