Director Mike Flanagan has been tapped to direct the film adaptation of Stephen King's 2014 novel, Revival. Flanagan last directed Doctor Sleep, another adaptation of one of King's novels, that was a sequel to The Shining. Unfortunately, the sequel was a box office bomb, only reeling in $72 million worldwide. Though Doctor Sleep contained many differences from the book, the adaptation was received well by critics and fans alike, the film scoring a 77 percent critical score and an 89 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Revival tells the story of a beloved preacher in a small town named Charles Jacobs. The man loses his faith when his wife and child are unexpectedly killed in a car crash, leading him to experiment with the supernatural. He eventually crosses paths with a heroin addict named Jamie Morton, a troubled man who met Jacobs when he was much younger. The two develop a bond a decide to make a dark and sinister pact with one another. King is no stranger to adaptations of his work, the author having his stories, such as Doctor Sleep, IT, In The Tall Grass, and Pet Sematary adapted in the past couple of years. In fact, there are many more Stephen King adaptations currently in development, including The Talisman and Salem's Lot.
According to THR, director Mike Flanagan will be adapting Stephen King's Revival for Warner Bros. Flanagan will be writing the script for the adaptation with the option to direct if he chooses. The director will be joined by Trevor Macy, his Doctor Sleep and The Haunting of Hill House collaborator, on the project for the studio. Josh Boone, director of The Fault In Our Stars adaptation and the heavily delayed New Mutants, previously tried to take on the project, but ultimately parted ways.
Flanagan has built a strong working relationship with King over the years, not only adapting the author's Shining sequel but Gerald's Game for Netflix as well. Both adaptations received heavily positive reviews, cementing the author and director as a successful pairing. Flanagan has been finishing up post-production on his follow up to Hill House, entitled The Haunting of Bly Manor. Not much is known about the project thus far, but the director has stated that Haunting of Bly Manor is scarier than Hill House. He will also be teaming up with Netflix again on a Midnight Mass horror series, adapting Shirley Jackson's 1959 horror novel.
Flanagan has proven that he's a director with immense talent, showing his firm grasp of character and story through his best work on Doctor Sleep and Hill House. He clearly has an affinity for the horror genre, and his talents are ideally suited for that atmosphere, being able to craft well-earned scares and build tension and suspense in ways few other directors working today can. The director has also been a terrific choice to adapt King's work, able to tell the author's stories in visually compelling and emotionally engaging ways that only serve to enhance the source material. Their partnership only seems to be flourishing, and the director is sure to wow audiences when his adaptation of Revival hits theaters.
Source: THR