Riding the tide of Stephen King adaptations comes Doctor Sleep, the sequel to one of the King's most famous novels, The Shining. The sequel is directed by Mike Flanagan, who has really risen to prominence in recent years as a skilled horror director. Flanagan has his work cut out for him following up a movie as iconic as The Shining, but it sounds like the director loved every second of it, writing a touching message to celebrate the official wrapping of production.
Horror movie fans are likely more than familiar with The Shining, the iconic horror film about a psychic boy named Danny Torrance who moves into a haunted hotel with his parents. The movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick and starred Jack Nicholson as the struggling father who loses his sanity in the hotel.
What people might be less familiar with is that author Stephen King followed up The Shining 36 years later with Doctor Sleep. The novel follows a now adult Danny Torrance who must protect a physic girl from a cult looking to suck out her "shine" as a source of immortality. It's a pretty bonkers idea for a sequel to a book that was mostly about a haunted hotel.
Production has officially wrapped on Doctor Sleep, and Mike Flanagan took to Facebook to share the news and his thoughts about getting to work on the Stephen King adaptation. Flanagan wrote that making the movie was one of the highlights of his career and that it was an honor to work with the cast and crew for five months.
Mike Flanagan is no stranger to Stephen King adaptations. The director made Gerald's Game, based on a novel that some said was too difficult to turn into a movie. However, Flanagan did the seemingly impossible and made it into a good movie, and now he's hoping to do the same for Doctor Sleep. Let's all just hope the King likes Flanagan's movie more than he did Stanley Kubrick's version.
Doctor Sleep stars Ewan McGregor has Dan Torrance, the little boy from The Shining all grown up and trying desperately not to become the man his father was. Joining McGregor is Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat, the leader of a cult that feeds on children with psychic powers, and Kyliegh Curran, a young girl with "the shining," who Danny develops a connection with.
Doctor Sleep is set to hit theaters on January 24, 2020. That's still a crazy long way off, but there's plenty of movies to keep you distracted until then. You can learn about each and every one of them in our handy 2019 movie release guide. For a Stephen King adaptation coming a bit sooner, how about IT Chapter 2?
