Stephen King's 'It' is Getting a Theatrical Remake
Pennywise will haunt the theaters this time around
I consider myself a pretty big Stephen King fan although I stopped regularly buying his books sometime around "From a Buick 8" as it seemed the originality was beginning to fade. However, I have never been a huge fan of Stephen King filmed adaptations. Sure, The Shining is good and I know many love Carrie and I believe some people have told me they liked Christine (I never saw that one). You have the non-horror adaptations such as Green Mile and everyone's favorite The Shawshank Redemption and as much as King is known as the master of horror his non-horror features prove to make the better films.
For so long King's horror adaptations have been turned into made-for-TV miniseries and one of them is about to get a theatrical remake as Warner Bros. and Vertigo Entertainment have brought in Dave Kajganich to pen an adaptation of King's 1986 genre classic "IT", which was made into a TV movie in 1990 starring Tim Curry, John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Tim Reid, Annette O'Toole and Richard Thomas.
The story follows a group of kids called the Losers Club that encounter a creature called It, which preys on children and whose favorite form is that of a sadistic clown called Pennywise. When the creature resurfaces, the kids are called upon to regroup again, this time as adults, even though they have no memory of the first battle. In the television original Curry played Pennywise.
Many have fond memories of the adaptation, but I remember being thoroughly disappointed as it was just another watered down version of the madness King had put on the page. However, while the horror aspect of the novel was cut down for television I wonder if it is something that can work on the big screen. The book is incredibly long with the hardback weighing in at 3.3 pounds and totally 1,152 pages. Of course, King is known for his talent in writing and writing and writing, something he even pokes fun at in his "Dark Tower" series of novels so I don't think there will be much of a problem cutting the story down to size.
Kajganich is really an untested factor even though he did write the box-office bust The Invasion which starred Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and the delayed Creek for Lionsgate, which stars Dominic Purcell and is still without a release date.
"IT" is a book I remember toting around in my book bag in school and by the time I finished it was so tattered and torn I went to a book store and bought a 1st edition hardcover copy. While "The Shining" will probably remain my favorite King novel, "IT" is one I remember thoroughly enjoying and some of the images are still burned in my memory. I hope a theatrical adaptation will impress me more than the ABC television version did.
Links from Other Sites You May Like
Showing 17 Comments
~ PLEASE NOTE ~
If, in any way, your comment is an attack on the author of this post or a previous commenter, your comment will be deleted without question.
Add a New Comment |
Click to Read Our Commenting Rules & Guidelines
WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!???????
Sweet Lord… is this remake really necessary?
the book was the scariest thing (book, movie, image etc.) I have ever come across and it literally fell apart while I was reading it from gripping it so tensely. At the time I was trying to picture how it would work on the big screen without losing a lot of the storyline, as it is quite a long book. Hopefully if it does get made, they will make it as a 2 movie feature rather than trying to squeeze it all into 2 hours.
I like clowns, they freak me out, so considering how poor the original movies were I wouldnt mind them giving it another shot.
In spite of it's watered-down nature, I literally had trouble sleeping after watching the TV Movie granted I was young and do love creepy clowns to an unnerving fault but still i couldn't sleep = Did a good enough job in my book why ruin it?
Saw when I was 11. I was scared of my bathroom and sewers for like "EVER". Still look down at the drain every now and then. Aaaahhhhh
@xuanatia: lol
I love IT the mini series (never read the book).
Just like with Langoliers it had a great build up but the ending was visually just silly.
So in that respect a remake might be good.
There's just a few things that might screw things up:
- If they make it into another teen horror instead of having grownups
- Isn't a movie a bit to short for a good build up? We might end up with a very long film thats still too short for the story.
- If they go for the wrong rating or think gore is more important than the story or well rounded characters.
With the first version being so well liked there's a lot at stake here.
@Garrett:
Yes. The miniseries was pretty weak IMO.
The part when they're kids was great in the TV version. I watched it when I was a child and it gave me nightmares. But the "adult" part was kinda weak and lame. I read the book a couple of years ago and I loved it. I'm excited for a theatrical version of it. But hey, I want a three hour movie! An epic! And please leave all the cursing and the sexual stuff intact (of course they won't).
@Adriano: but is three hours enough for 1152 pages?
What will they have to cut out?
I'm not sure if a movie is better than a new mini serie for this.
@rattler76: Well, this depends on the capacity of the writer and the director. I'm sure Frank Darabont could make a truly ass-kicking movie out of the book.
The miniseries doesn't hold up well, largely because of the cheesy effects. With technology much advanced (I remember we taped IT off a local channel, so we preserved it along with commercials for the SNES), I think it could be much scarier.
Of course, they'd have to get a cast of the same calibre as the miniseries had.
Hmmm… I think a remake could work but would have to be more true to the book. Neibolt street, It being female and pregnant, the coming of IT and the smokehole…oh ya plus the derry interludes of Mike Hanlon
Plus the turtle.
So when is this getting remade? Anyone know a release date yet?
I've been looking forward to this happening for years. Not that I didn't love the original & the book, but with the kind of technology they have now (making the spider It look more realistic, for instance), the remake has the potential to be awesome. And the fact that more of the book details can be added with the movie having an R rating, all the better.
Maybe other remakes have bombed, but I have confidence that this one can be better.
I read the book twice years ago and was captivated since page 1. I have the movie on VHS (no commercials) I am also now listening to it on audio book and although this is one of my favorite books I am amazed at how much I had forgotten.
If they make this into a movie they need to have just as much detail as Stephen King had in the book( I don't know if that is possible though) This movie for me would have to be a TV mini series or even better a cable series. If they made a movie it would have to be atleast 4 hours to even capture the essence of the book.