Though the future holds many upcoming Stephen King adaptations to look forward to, a growning number of intriguing projects unfortunately never made it to the screen. One book-to-screen adaptation I was particularly excited about was Revival, with horror maestro Mike Flanagan previously attached to direct. Unfortunately, it never came to be, and the Haunting of Hill House creator shared his latest thoughts on the project that slipped through his fingers.
Revival tells the story of preacher Charles Jacobs, who becomes obsessed with experiments involving electrical healing, and Jamie Morton, a young boy fascinated by Jacobs’ unusual abilities. Several attempts to adapt Revival into a movie have been made, with New Mutants director Josh Boone first taking a shot, and Mike Flanagan getting on board in early 2020.
The Fall of the House of Usher helmer gave fans all kinds of fun facts at the Echoes From Hill House: A Haunting Panel at FAN EXPO Canada, via Screen Rant, and shared his excitement for what might have been if not for the movie’s production falling apart, saying:
I wrote a script off of Revival that I love. Man, is it dark. We did the ending and, if you've read it, it is one of the bleakest most chilling endings that King's ever done - including Pet Sematary. It's dark, but man did I love that script. When people ask me what the phantom limb is, what the project that got away is, it'll always be Revival.
Flanagan’s admiration for the project was evident, and there's no questioning how much of a Stephen King fanatic he is, considering all of his past adpatations. Which possibly makes this next admission sting a bit more than any other explanation for what may have caused the studio to pull back. As he put it:
I had written it for Warner Brothers right after we had been shooting Doctor Sleep, but Doctor Sleep didn't work in the box office. I'm enormously proud of the movie, and I hear from fans that it seems to grow, but it didn't perform to the studio's expectations. And so a lot of the projects that we had at Warner Brothers died as a result, and Revival was one of them.
Despite this setback, fans shouldn’t completely lose hope just yet. The Ouija: Origin of Evil hinted that the project could see a...gasp....revival someday if things work out. In his words:
I've mourned for it ever since, but I do not have the rights to it. It went away. And Steve, very wisely, doesn't like to saddle the same filmmaker with more than one thing because it means that something's not proceeding. There are other Stephen King properties that I am attached to that took precedence over that, and the choice was to pursue those or to try to get Revival going someplace else. We let it go, but I'll always pine for that movie. Maybe it comes back around. You never know with these things.
While Revival remains one of the unmade projects the Occulus director wishes had come to fruition, his comments suggest that the story may continue. With several adaptations of the horror icon’s novels and short stories still in the works, fans might yet see Flanagan bring his vision to life. If not, there have been rumors Revival could see life as a television show, and honestly, given the depth of the book, that might not be such a bad idea.
Mike Flanagan has a rich history of adapting Stephen King's work, including his excellent adaptation of Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep, box office be damned. He also has another King project, The Life of Chuck, set to hit the 2024 movie schedule, releasing on September 6, 2024, and he's secured the rights to adapt the King's The Dark Tower series, so fans can look forward to more collaborations between the two in the future.
Check out our schedule for the latest theatrical releases and the 2025 movie release lineup to stay updated on all the upcoming horror movies.
