Another Stephen King novel is getting the remake treatment with news that Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures are readying a new version of Firestarter (via The Daily Dead).
The original novel, published in 1981, was made into a feature film in 1984 by Mark Lester (Commando) and starred Drew Barrymore (Santa Clarita Diet, The Wedding Singer) in the lead role. Martin Sheen, George C. Scott, Art Carney, David Kieth and Heather Locklear co-starred and grossed over $17million domestically.
For the remake, Blumhouse have secured Akiva Goldsman (A New York Winters Tale) to direct the film after recently helming Stephanie for the production company and which debuted this week at the Overlook Film Festival. Goldsman is an Academy Award Winning writer for his work on A Beautiful Mind and has also scribed a wide range of films including the upcoming The Dark Tower, Angels & Demons, Batman and Robin, and A Time To Kill.
He is also part of the “writer’s room” now set up to oversee the Transformers franchise.
Firestarter focuses on a “young girl named Charlie McGee, who inherited pyrokinetic powers from her parents after they’d been given a low-grade hallucinogen called “Lot Six” while at college. Now the government is trying to capture young Charlie and harness her powerful firestarting skills as a weapon.”
Over the past few years, Blumhouse has gone from strength to strength with 2017 ooking like being the company’s biggest year yet: both of their films so far this year, Split and Get Out, both grossing $274million and $180million worldwide respectively.
They are also working on the Split sequel, Glass, with M. Night Shyamalan which also acts a follow-up to 2000’s Unbreakable. Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Samuel L. Jackson are set to star.
