Another high-profile Stephen King adaptation is officially in the works. Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) has been hired to write, and possibly direct, an adaptation of the author’s 1984 novelThe Talismanfor Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. This is one of the most significant King novels that hasn’t yet been adapted for the big screen. Or the small screen, for that matter. So it’s a big deal, assuming it actually gets made.
The news comes courtesy of Variety, who report that legendary producer Frank Marshall will producerThe Talismanfor Amblin, with Michael Wright on board as an executive producer. Amblin Entertainment had initially been working on adapting the novel, which was co-authored byStephen Kingand Peter Straub, as a TV series, but they recently decided to turn it into a movie instead. Per the report, the movie “follows a boy, who to save his mother from certain death, enters a parallel world known as the Territories in search of a powerful talisman.” Based on that, it sounds as though it will stick pretty closely to the book. Here’s a full synopsis for the novel from Stephen King’s official website.
“Twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer embarks on an epic quest, a walk from the seacoast of New Hampshire to the California coast, to find the talisman that will save his dying mother’s life. Jack’s journey takes him into the Territories, a parallel medieval universe, where most people from his own universe have analogs called ‘twinners.’ The queen of the Territories, Jack’s mother’s twinner, is also dying.”
Josh Boonehas a history with Stephen King adaptations prior to being hired to writeThe Talisman. At one point, he was working on adaptingThe Stand, but the project was eventually put on the backburner. After that, King himself asked Boone to write an adaptation of his storyRevival, which is also currently being developed.
No doubt, this news ofThe Talismanmovie is in response to the astounding success thatIThas had. Not only was the movie a critical success, butIThas gone on to gross more than $600 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing horror movie ever made. Despite being known best forThe Fault in Our Stars, Josh Boone has also dipped his hand in horror. He recently wrapped up filming theX-Menspin-offNew Mutants, which is being described as a horror movie with superheroes in it.
This is just one of manyStephen King adaptationstaking over Hollywood right now. The seriesCastle Rockdebuts on Hulu next year andMr. Mercedeswas just picked up for a second season. There’s also new adaptations ofSalem’s LotandThe Standrumored to be in development as well, among others.Varietydidn’t make any note of when we might be able to expectThe Talismanin theaters, but the project sounds like it is in the very early stages. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date as more information on the project is made available.
