It’s (no pun intended) official, Stephen King’s horror classicPet Semataryis getting the remake treatment and Paramount has announced thatStarry Eyesdirectors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer will helm the new adaptation. The news comes after it was announced that 2017 has been the biggest year for the horror genre in box office history. The year started off strong with Jordan Peele’sGet Outand then the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’sITfromdirector Andres Muschietticame out and broke horror records left and right. Paramount is hoping in to cash in on the new horror renaissance with their own remake ofPet Sematary.
The original 1989 classicPet Sematarywasbased on the Stephen King novel, which follows the tribulations of a family who moves into a new home next to a cemetery with evil powers that allow the creatures buried in it to come back from the dead. Theoriginal movie was not loved by criticsand did not do very well at the box office, but like most iconic horror movies, it has gone on to become a cult classic and lauded by horror aficionados.Many fans don’t believe that it needs a remake, while some agree that a facelift could help thePet Sematarybrand.
Rumors of aPet Semataryremake from Paramount have been around for some time and now, according to Variety, the project has landed directors in the form of Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, the duo behind 2014’s crowdfundedStarry Eyes.ITdirector Andres Muschietti and his sister Barbara had expressed interest in directing and producing thePet Semataryremake while out promotingIT, but it appears as if that won’t be happening. That may be for the best, since the duo are already hard at work onIT 2.
Pet Semataryis the latest of Stephen King’s work to get an adaptation or remake this year.ITis the big one that everybody and their mother knows about, but there is the recently released1922on Netflix, which is based off of King’s novella of the same name as well asGerald’s Game, also released by Netflix. Stephen King has said that1922came out really well and even scared the hell out of him, which is really saying something and may have a lot to do with Mike Patton’s intense score.Pet Semataryis the latest remake, but it is not clear when production will begin on the project.
As previously mentioned, some fans are divided as to if we even need a remake ofPet Sematary. It also has to do with the amount of Stephen King adaptations that are currently in development or that have recently been released. How much Stephen King is too much? We won’t know for sure, butIT,1922, andGerald’s Gamehave all been critically acclaimed and are worthy additions to the Stephen King adaptation vault, so Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch definitely have their work cut out for themselves. You can read more about Paramount’sPet Semataryremake viaVariety.
