The works of Stephen King are always popular fodder for adaptation, but these days the prolific author is in even higher demand than usual. As such, it's no surprise to see a long in development project come back from the dead. Stephen King's Pet Sematary has had a remake in development hell, but hot on the heels of King's novel IT becoming one of the most successful horror movies ever made, the remake has found new directors in the form of Starry Eyes helmers Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer.
It's difficult not to draw a line directly from the success of IT and the hiring of new directors for the Pet Sematary remake. The attempt to remake the Stephen King story about a burial ground that brings whatever is buried there back to life has been going on for more than a decade by this point. Two different directors have had their names attached to the project in the past, but it's been years since we've seen any real movement. While there's no way to tell if the new directors, revealed by Variety, will hang around any longer than the old ones, the fact that anybody is even still trying is almost certainly due to the strength that Stephen King's name has right now.
The original Pet Sematary was released in 1989 and, while it might not be considered a horror classic by all, is actually a remarkably good addition to the genre. This being Halloween, there will probably be many viewing the movie this evening who are looking for a good scare.The movie was so successful that it spawned a sequel, one not based on anything written by Stephen King, that movie is not well regarded among horror movie fans.
Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer are solid choices to take over the director's chair for Pet Semetary. Starry Eyes was a well regarded independent movie in 2014 with more than its share of chills. The pair has more recently remained in the horror genre directing episodes of MTV's Scream: The TV Series. This would, by far, be their biggest movie project to date, however, the same could be said of Andy Muschiett, the director of IT, so clearly this structure can work quite well.
While not every Stephen King property has been a runaway success, the Mist TV series has already been canceled and The Dark Tower certainly didn't blow anybody away, IT's success was so big that it really does overshadow everything else. IT's sequel, which will cover the half of the novel not dealt with in the first movie, is currently set for release in 2019. If Pet Sematary really does move forward from here it's possible we could have a pair of Stephen King horror movies releasing around that time.
