One of my favorite Halloween memories from my childhood is sorting through my trick-or-treat candy with my cousin and sister while the 1990 film adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches played on the television. Sitting in the warm glow of the screen, the movie both delighted and chilled me to the bone, and it looks like Dahl's story may do that for another generation of viewers now that a new adaptation of the book is in the works with Guillermo del Toro producing and Robert Zemeckis potentially directing.
Variety reports that Zemeckis is in "final negotiations" to direct a new adaptation of Dahl's The Witches (originally published in 1983) for Warner Bros. Should the deal be finalized, he would also write the adaptive screenplay. On the producing side of the project are Jack Rapke (backing the project through his and Zemeckis' ImageMovers banner) and directors Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro, the latter of whom is also co-writing and producing a Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie.
Warner Bros. previously adapted The Witches in the 1990 movie that was directed by Nicolas Roeg, produced by Jim Henson, and starred Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch, the leader of all witches on Earth who share the goal of destroying children by any means necessary. Variety mentions that Zemeckis' film is expected to be a closer adaptation of Dahl's novel than the beloved 1990 movie.
We'll keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details are revealed. In the meantime, we have the synopsis and cover art for The Witches book below, as well as the trailer for the 1990 film. Are you looking forward to a new adaptation of Dahl's chilling children's novel?
Synopsis: "Grandmamma loves to tell about witches. Real witches are the most dangerous of all living creatures on earth. There's nothing they hate so much as children, and they work all kinds of terrifying spells to get rid of them. Her grandson listens closely to Grandmamma's stories—but nothing can prepare him for the day he comes face-to-face with The Grand High Witch herself!"
Cover art from Scholastic:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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