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Stephen King’s ‘The Tommyknockers’ Snagged by Universal

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'The Tommyknockers' (1993) via IMDB

Stephen King fans can rejoice once more, as The Tommyknockers adaptation has officially found its home at Universal. Deadline reports Universal beat out Netflix and Sony in a bidding war for film rights. James Wan will be producing through his company Atomic Monster, and is said to be circling the director’s chair as well. Roy Lee and Larry Sanitsky will be joining Wan as producers. Sanitsky was also executive producer for The Tommyknockers ABC mini-series back in 1993.

The Tommyknockers is about a town in Maine that falls into chaos after an alien ship found in the nearby woods releases a gas that infects the population. Those exposed gain abilities, but also turn psychotic.

James Wan has recently branched out from the horror genre with directing films like Furious 7 and Aquaman. However, he has kept one foot in horror by acting as producer for films like The Nun, Annabelle: Creation, and Lights Out. It was announced last year Wan would also be producing the first film for the Resident Evil reboot. Despite Hollywood having no shortage of reboots, many fans would agree Resident Evil was film franchise in desperate need of a fresh start.

Universal’s The Tommyknockers will join a long list of upcoming projects based on the acclaimed novelist’s work. IT: Chapter Two and Pet Sematary are among those currently in development for the big screen. Castle Rock, The Dark Tower, and The Stand will are slated as future TV series adaptations as well.

And the King craze may not be slowing down anytime soon with more potential projects on the horizon. Mike Flanagan has already expressed interest in Doctor Sleep being his second King adaptation, following last year’s Netflix hit Gerald’s Game. Doctor Sleep is King’s sequel to his terrifying classic The Shining. Steven Spielberg also said in a recent EW article that he would be interested in possibly adapting King’s The Talisman in the future.

The remarkable part about all of these recent Stephen King adaptations is how each director has been able to make them their own. King’s work has proven to be extremely versatile over the years for directors to shape and mold, and Wan’s gift for suspense and scares would be a great asset.

I don’t know about you, but I hope James Wan officially claims the director’s chair for The Tommyknockers. James Wan and Stephen King, horror masters of the screen and page, would be a killer combination.

Are you excited for The Tommyknockers? What Stephen King adaptation are you most looking forward to? Be sure to check back for more updates on this project!

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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