Akiva Goldsman to helm reboot of Stephen King’s ‘Firestarter’

Blumhouse Productions and Universal are teaming up with Akiva Goldsman (Winter’s Tale) for a remake of Stephen King’s Firestarter, it has been announced at the Overlook Film Festival.

The announcement comes after Stephanie, the most recent collaboration between Goldsman and Blumhouse, premiered for those in attendance at the Timberline Lodge, iconic hotel from The Shining. (We couldn’t imagine a single better place to break the news.)

Firestarter was previously adapted in 1984 by Mark Lester (Commando). It follows a father and his daughter (who happens to have pyrokinetic abilities) on the run from a secret government agency. The film starred David Keith (An Office and a Gentleman) and a young Drew Barrymore (Donnie Darko).

Lester’s original adaption didn’t cause much of a fuss at the time, and even King himself was critical of the film. But with Goldsman signed on for the remake, we’re interested to see how things pan out. After all, Stephanie previously made the cut on our list of must-see films at the inaugural festival – not to mention his previous experience as executive producer on Blumhouse’s Paranormal Activity franchise. If there’s one man that could pull it off, it might be Goldsman.

This year’s shaping up to be an exciting one for Stephen King fans. On the horizon are silver screen adaptations of The Dark Tower and Gerald’s Game, along with a remake of It. Closer to home, on the small screen, Spike is adapting The Mist into a television series, whilst Hulu is attempting the same with Castle Rock. We can’t recall the last time King was this popular!

The Goldsman-directed feature will be written by Scott Teems (Rectify) and produced by Jason Blum under his Blumhouse label. Martha de Laurentiis, an associate producer on the original 1984 version, will serve as executive producer.