James Wan to Produce Arachnophobia Movie Reboot

Screen Rant

James Wan to Produce Arachnophobia Reboot for Amblin

By Sandy Schaefer

Published Jun 11, 2018

James Wan is teaming up with Amblin on Arachnophobia, a reboot of the 1990 horror/comedy staring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman.

James Wan is lending his talents as a producer to yet another horror reboot, this time in the form of Arachnophobia. The director of Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring has been taking a break from the horror genre by directing DC's Aquaman movie for the past couple years. However, over that same period of time, Wan has attached himself as a producer to several in-development horror projects, among them a big screen take on Stephen King's The Tommyknockers, a Resident Evil movie (or TV show) reboot, and a Swamp Thing TV series for DC's streaming service.

Wan has an eye on directing Tommyknockers, but is planning to only produce the Arachnophobia reboot. Frank Marshall directed the original 1990 horror/comedy, which revolves around a newly-discovered type of Venezuelan spider that is transported to a small town in California and begins breeding, giving rise to a new species of giant killer spiders. Jeff Daniels and John Goodman costarred in the film, at a time when both actors were on the verge of becoming much bigger names.

Deadline is reporting that Wan's Atomic Monster and Amblin (which was cofounded by Marshall) are in the early stages of remaking Arachnophobia and will set a writer for the film next. Arachnophobia is one of a handful of horror-flavored offerings that Amblin has in the pipeline now, along with Eli Roth's The House with a Clock in its Walls adaptation and Floria Sigismondi's Turn of the Screw re-imagining The Turning.

The original Arachnophobia was a modest financial success in theaters that went on to earn a cult following on the home video market over the years that followed. It hit the scene in what ended up being a noteworthy year for offbeat horror/comedy fare, what with Gremlins 2: The New Batch and Tremors being released over that same twelve-month period. The Gremlins property is also in the process of getting a reboot at the moment, after several failed attempts to get a Gremlins 3 off the ground. Meanwhile, Tremors fans are still reeling from Syfy's decision to pass on the pilot for a sequel TV series led by the original movie's star, Kevin Bacon, back in April.

With Amblin and Wan producing, the Arachnophobia reboot has a good shot at moving past early development and into production more quickly than other recent '90s horror and horror/comedy revivals. Further, as the horror genre continues to prosper and branch out, there's certainly room for a film that combines scares and humor the way Arachnophobia does to thrive. The success of last year's Blumhouse films Get Out and Happy Death Day alone is proof enough that audiences still enjoy laughing and screaming at once, and in sizable numbers.