At some point this week, It will become the highest-grossing R-rated horror movie of all-time (not adjusted for inflation), topping arguably the most famous horror movie ever, The Exorcist. The creepy clown film is breaking all kinds of box office records — highest-grossing movie based on a Stephen King book, highest-grossing opening weekend for a movie released in September, highest-grossing opening weekend for a movie released in the fall, etc. — and director Andres Muschietti is presumably being inundated with offers for his next project. That will likely be It: Chapter Two, although he’s not officially onboard yet, but the Mama director is also interested in another King classic.
“My affection for Pet Sematary will go on until I die,” Andy Muschietti told Entertainment Weekly. “I will always dream about the possibility of making a movie.” His sister and It co-producer, Barbara, added, “We’ll see who gets to it first. But it is the first Stephen King book that we read, and it’s something that has been a great love, because it is possibly King’s most personal book. You can imagine his young family. What will you do to be able to keep your family? How far would you go?” She continued, “But if we do it, we have to do it justice, like we did with It. The versions we read in the past years, the scripts we’ve read, have not been, in our opinion, representative of the book.”
The Muschiettis have some competition, though.
Book of the Day: PET SEMATARY by Stephen King. Unrelentingly dark and emotional. Compulsive reading. Would kill to make it on film.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) October 16, 2015
Pet Sematary was published in 1983; six years later, it was turned into an enjoyably schlocky movie with a scene-stealing performance from Fred Gwynne as Jud Crandall (the South Park parody is spot on). With the current interest in all things King — in 2017 alone, It, Mr. Mercedes, The Mist, The Dark Tower, and Gerald’s Game have all been turned into movies or TV shows — it would be a surprise if Paramount Pictures didn’t make a Pet Sematary movie. Or The Shining remake. Or The Stand four-episode miniseries (another one).
Keep Cujo alone, though. No more Cujo.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
