Sam Raimi has settled on his subsequent directing effort.
As his follow-up to Send Help, his twisty survival thriller launched by twentieth Century/Disney earlier this 12 months, Raimi will direct Magic, Lionsgate’s fashionable tackle a William Goldman novel that was beforehand become a 1978 cult horror basic that featured Anthony Hopkins as a mentally unstable ventriloquist.
Raimi was already on board to provide the replace, having set it at his eponymous manufacturing firm final 12 months. Additionally producing are Roy Lee in addition to Chris Hammond and Tim Sullivan, the latter two who lengthy championed the challenge and guided its growth by monitoring down the unique rights.
Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, who wrote Ship Assist for Raimi and who beforehand penned Freddy vs. Jason and the remake of Friday the thirteenth, wrote the script for Magic, which will likely be an up to date tackle the 1976 novel by William Goldman. (Goldman additionally wrote the script for the unique adaptation.)
Magic starred Hopkins as Corky, a magician who reaches fame alongside his ventriloquist’s dummy, the obnoxious and wisecracking Fat. Confronted with the prospect of signing a community deal for his personal present however afraid of unveiling his fragile psychological state, the magician takes off for the Catskills, the place he tries to reconnect with a highschool love, whilst Fat begins to murderously take management of the scenario.
The film additionally starred Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith and was directed by Richard Attenborough. The film generated buzz earlier than its launch by twentieth Century Fox with a TV advert that targeted simply on the face of the dummy, which declared “Magic is fun, we’re dead.”
Raimi Productions’ Zainab Azizi may also produce. Nathan Kahane and Paul Fishkin will government produce alongside Andrew Childs for Vertigo.
Meredith Wieck and Pavan Kalidindi are overseeing the challenge for Lionsgate.
Ship Assist, which starred Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, was a shock and modest hit when it hit theaters on Jan. 30. The film was a return to horror kind for Raimi, producing a few of his higher opinions in additional than 15 years.
“His coming aboard represents one of the truly great matches of director and material,” stated Lionsgate’s movement image group chair Adam Fogelson as a part of an announcement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
