It’s rare for a year to go by without several new Stephen King movies and this year is certainly no exception, with a Salem’s Lot remake and much, much more soon on the way.
In fact, we’re counting at least ELEVEN King adaptations that are currently in the works, and though they’re not all coming this year, they are at least in development at this time.
What can we expect from Stephen King adaptations on the big and small screen in 2022 and beyond? Here are no less than eleven King adaptations on the way sometime soon!
Salem’s Lot
James Wan is producing a new big screen take on Stephen King‘s classic vampire story Salem’s Lot for Warner Bros. and New Line, with Gary Dauberman (It, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Home) attached to write the script and also direct the upcoming film. Last we heard, this latest version of Salem’s Lot will take a bite out of theaters on September 9, 2022.
“In Salem’s Lot, author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.”
The Salem’s Lot remake cast includes Pilou Asbæk, John Benjamin Hickey, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Alfred Woodward, and William Sadler.
Fresh off Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper directed the very first adaptation of Salem’s Lot back in 1979, and a new mini-series followed in its wake more recently, in 2004.
Firestarter
Another King adaptation that we’re expecting this year is Firestarter, a brand new big screen take coming from Universal, Blumhouse and director Keith Thomas (The Vigil).
In Firestarter, “A young girl develops pyrokinetic abilities and is abducted by a secret government agency that wants to harness her powerful gift as a weapon.”
Ryan Kiera Armstrong (IT Chapter Two, “American Horror Story”) is playing Charlie in the new Stephen King adaptation, and Sydney Lemmon will be playing Charlie’s mother.
Zac Efron (Extremely Wicked), Michael Greyeyes (Blood Quantum), and Gloria Reuben (Lincoln, “Mr. Robot”) also star. Efron is playing the father of main character Charlie.
Firestarter has been adapted by writer Scott Teems (Halloween Kills, Rectify).
Later
Freshly announced this week, Blumhouse Television is working on a limited series adaptation of Stephen King’s Later, a pulp crime novel that was only just released last year.
The limited series was created by Raelle Tucker and will star Lucy Liu.
The synopsis for the book explains, “#1 bestselling author Stephen King returns with a brand-new novel about the secrets we keep buried and the cost of unearthing them.”
“The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.”
Children of the Corn
One of the first movies to film during the early days of the pandemic back in 2020, Kurt Wimmer‘s new take on Stephen King‘s Children of the Corn has seemingly dropped off the radar completely in recent months, with no release date set at this time. We’re doing some more digging on our end, and we expect to have more information on this one soon.
In Wimmer’s movie, which is said to have very little to do with King’s novel, “A psychopathic twelve-year-old girl in a small town in Nebraska recruits all the other children and goes on a bloody rampage, killing the corrupt adults and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won’t go along with the plan is the town’s only hope of survival.”
The new film’s cast includes Elena Kampouris (Before I Fall), Kate Moyer (“When Hope Calls”), Callan Mulvey (Avengers: Endgame) and Bruce Spence (The Road Warrior).
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
A feature film adaptation of one of the stories featured in Stephen King‘s collection If It Bleeds, titled Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, is currently in the works at Netflix. It’s being developed by “American Horror Story” creator Ryan Murphy and Blumhouse, with John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) writing and directing the adaptation.
Donald Sutherland and Jaeden Martell (IT) will star. Sutherland will star in the title role of “Mr. Harrigan,” we’ve learned, with Martell in the role of “Craig.”
Kirby Howell-Baptiste (“Barry,” “Killing Eve”) has also joined the cast. “Howell-Baptiste will play Craig’s caring and concerned teacher, Ms. Hart.”
“Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is from the latest collection of novellas “If It Bleeds” from Stephen King, about a young boy named Craig, living in a small town, who befriends an older, reclusive billionaire, Mr. Harrigan. The two form a bond over books and an iPhone, but when the man passes away, the boy discovers that not everything dead is gone, and finds himself able to communicate with his friend from the grave through the iPhone that was buried with him.”
Stephen King in ‘It: Chapter Two’
The Boogeyman
After making a name for himself in the horror world with the 2020 Shudder movie Host, Rob Savage recently set up his next project, and this time around he’s tackling Stephen King. Savage will be adapting King’s short story The Boogeyman for Hulu and 20th Century Studios. The film is expected to debut exclusively on Hulu, with no date set at this time.
The original story was first published in 1973, before finding a home in Stephen King’s Night Shift collection in 1978. This will be the first time the tale has been adapted as a feature.
In the film, “Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her little brother find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.”
Christine
Stephen King‘s killer car Christine is also coming back to life real soon, with Bryan Fuller (“Hannibal”) directing a new take on the terror tale for Blumhouse & Sony.
Fuller will also reportedly be writing the brand new adaptation. Interesting to note, Fuller previously wrote the teleplay for 2002’s TV movie Carrie, another Stephen King horror story.
The 1983 original was directed by John Carpenter. In the film, “A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.”
Stephen King’s Christine was published in 1983, the very same year the original movie was released. Keith Gordon starred as Arnie Cunningham, the story’s main character.
Pet Sematary
A new installment in the Pet Sematary franchise is in the works for Paramount+, with Jeff Buhler, who wrote the 2019 adaptation, writing. It looks like the project is set to be a prequel, so it’s not necessarily a King adaptation even if it’s exploring Stephen King’s world.
Lindsey Beer (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser) has been hired to direct the new movie, making her directorial debut. Beer also wrote the latest draft of the movie’s script.
No word yet on plot details, but the film will presumably tell a new story set within the world of Stephen King‘s Pet Sematary. The novel has thus far been adapted twice for the big screen, first by Mary Lambert in 1989 and then by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer in 2019. Mary Lambert also directed a sequel to her Pet Sematary, which was released in 1992.
Natalie Alyn Lind (“Big Sky,” “Tell Me a Story”), Jack Mulhern (“Mare of Easttown”), Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant), and Isabella Star LaBlanc will star. And Jackson White (“Mrs. Fletcher”) is playing a young version of Jud Crandall, confirming the prequel rumors.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Announced back in 2020, Christy Hall (Netflix’s “I Am Not Okay With This”) is adapting Stephen King‘s 1999 novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon into a feature film, with Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin, You Were Never Really Here) directing. It’s been a while since we’ve heard about this one so we can’t be 100% sure it’s still happening, but stay tuned.
Producers Roy Lee (IT) and Jon Berg are on board the Village Roadshow Pictures adaptation, with Christine Romero and Origin Story’s Ryan Silbert also producing.
In The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, “King offers a frightening suspense novel about a young girl who becomes lost in the woods as night falls.”
“On a six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, nine-year-old Trisha McFarland quickly tires of the constant bickering between her older brother, Pete, and her recently divorced mother. But when she wanders off by herself, and then tries to catch up by attempting a shortcut, she becomes lost in a wilderness maze full of peril and terror.”
“As night falls, Trisha has only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, and only her courage and faith to withstand her mounting fears. For solace she tunes her Walkman to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox baseball games and follows the gritty performances of her hero, relief pitcher Tom Gordon. And when her radio’s reception begins to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is with her—protecting her from an all-too-real enemy who has left a trail of slaughtered animals and mangled trees in the dense, dark woods…”
The Running Man
Another upcoming King adaptation we haven’t heard a peep about since it was announced (back in February 2021) is The Running Man, with Edgar Wright attached to direct!
Last we heard, Wright is on board to develop and direct the new take for Paramount.
King’s novel, published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, was released in 1982, loosely adapted into the same-titled Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring film in 1987.
Wikipedia recaps King’s 1982 novel, “The story follows protagonist Ben Richards as he participates in the game show The Running Man in which contestants, allowed to go anywhere in the world, are chased by “Hunters” employed to kill them.”
Elevation
The final upcoming Stephen King adaptation that’s on our radar at the moment is Elevation, the 2018 novella that brought us back into King’s fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine.
Last we heard, Jack Bender (“Under the Dome,” “Mr. Mercedes”) was developing a feature film adaptation of Elevation, but the trail on that one has been cold since early 2021.
“In Castle Rock, Maine, Scott Carey faces a mysterious illness which causes bizarre effects on his body and makes him rapidly lose weight, even if he appears healthy on the outside. While battling this disease with his trusted doctor, he also tries fixing a dire situation involving a lesbian couple trying to open a restaurant surrounded by a disapproving public.”
Stay tuned for updates on these and other Stephen King movies!
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