In case the news yesterday that the extreme sports remake of “Point Break” was going ahead didn’t remind you, nothing is sacred in Hollywood. And that means even Stanley Kubrick‘s iconic horror masterpiece “The Shining” needs to be franchised, because it can. Warner Bros. has no problem making the movie the centerpiece of whatever they’re planning, and right now that means: prequel!
The news of this plan first cropped up last summer and we hoped like many ideas in Hollywood, it would just end up in development hell, forever being tossed around by idealistic young executives looking to get ahead, but never actually going anywhere. Sadly, it is moving forward as the studio has hired “The Walking Dead” showrunner/writer/producer Glen Mazzara to wield his mighty pen. It’s an interesting choice, and there is something to be said for the producing talent with Laeta Kalogridis (“Avatar,” “Shutter Island“), Bradley Fischer (“Black Swan,” “Zodiac“) and James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac,” “The Amazing Spider-Man“) all lending their talent. There’s no word yet on just what the story will be.
Of course, we’re dismayed, as “The Shining” is a pretty big totem pole in the genre woods, and the idea of even attaching another movie to Kubrick’s unique vision just seems crass and ill advised. Particularly when, as “Room 237” has shown, people are still finding so much to explore and enjoy and unpack in the original movie, even decades later. As for what Stephen King thinks of all this — reminder, he recently dropped “Doctor Sleep,” which catches up with a middle-aged Danny Torrance — he’s not even sure if WB can legally do this.
“…there was really scary stuff in that prologue that wouldn’t make a bad movie. Am I eager to see that happen? No I am not. And there’s some real question about what rights Warner Bros. does still have. ‘The Shining’ is such an old book now that the copyright comes back to me. Arguably, the film rights lapse — so we’ll see,” the author told EW in February. “We’re looking into that. I’m not saying I would put a stop to the project, because I’m sort of a nice guy. When I was a kid, my mother said, ‘Stephen if you were a girl, you’d always be pregnant.’ I have a tendency to let people develop things. I’m always curious to see what will happen. But you know what? I would be just as happy if it didn’t happen.”
We hear ya Steve. [Deadline]