New Adaptation of Stephen King’s FIRESTARTER Gets New Director

A new adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter has been cooking since it was first announced at The Overlook Film Festival back in 2017, and now it's heating up once again with the reveal of a new director for the film.

Variety reports that Keith Thomas will helm the new Firestarter movie for Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, and Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road Productions. Variety also reveals that Blumhouse has picked up the domestic distribution rights to Thomas' feature-length debut, The Vigil, which has been well-received on the festival circuit (for more on that film, read Lindsay Traves' TIFF interview with Thomas).

Thomas is the latest director for the film, with Fatih Akin (In the Fade) reported as the movie's previous director back in 2018 following the announcement in 2017 that Akiva Goldsman was developing the film.

Thomas will direct the new Firestarter movie from a script by Scott Teems (co-writer of Blumhouse's upcoming Halloween Kills). The screenplay will be based on the 1980 Stephen King book about a telekinetic child named Charlie and the organization known as The Shop that will do anything to capture her and exploit her powers.

King's novel was previously adapted for the big screen in a 1984 film directed by Mark. L. Lester and starring Drew Barrymore (pictured above). A TV movie sequel, Firestarter 2: Rekindled, was released in 2002.

Martha de Laurentiis (who worked on the first Firestarter film as an associate producer) is among the producers of the new Firestarter. While a release date and casting details have yet to be revealed, we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on future developments.