At 74 years old, the work of legendary author Stephen King continues to be amongst some of the most revered and captivating literature to be released in the past century. Countless films have been inspired by his work with arguably the most notable work, It, being rebooted and reimagined as an entire franchise in the past few years. In 1989 Paramount Pictures released one of the first King inspired films with Pet Sematary based upon the 1983 Stephen King novel by the same name about a family that moves into a new home next to a cemetery home to some menacing supernatural forces. Though the film received mixed reviews, Paramount turned an $11 million investment into nearly $60 million in box office receipts with Pet Sematary and highlighted the potential demand for King’s work to be adapted into film. Three decades later in 2019 Paramount opted to reboot Pet Sematary and explore the realm of Stephen King through the lens of the modern film industry, and now they are attempting to build a franchise out of it with the second installment of Pet Sematary currently in the works with a new director attached.
This isn’t the first attempt at something like this in regards to the work of Stephen King. In 2017, Warner Brothers Pictures rebooted the legendary film It and have also begun building out a franchise based upon the original 1990 film with the second installment, It: Chapter Two, being released in 2019. That same year is when Paramount decided to release the first installment of their Pet Sematary reboot, the novel King himself has previously deemed his most frightening, and now they want to build an entire universe around the film. The studio will be revisiting the supernatural cemetery and the potential horrors of moving next door to a gravesite, utilizing the work of Stephen King to ensure viewers are on the edge of their seat. The next installment of Pet Sematary is currently in the works over at Paramount Pictures and screenwriter Lindsey Beer has been chosen to direct the upcoming project that is set to release on Paramount+.
In the past decade, we have seen the reboot of three separate Stephen King inspired films dating back as far as the 1970’s. For virtually half a century now the author has been amongst the most respected names in both literature and Hollywood, and it doesn’t look like his reign will be ending anytime soon. This could just be the beginning of a Stephen King revolution as his work is continuously adapted and rebooted in the modern era of the film industry, with the reboot of Pet Sematary potentially laying the groundwork. While details surrounding the next installment of Pet Sematary are sparse, fans of the legendary author can keep their eyes and ears open for new details about the upcoming project in the near future.
