Not to put too fine a point on it, but quality film adaptations of Stephen King’s work have often been few and far between. While it’s certainly not the only reason, it’s hard to argue that this hasn’t been a contributing factor to the unexpected success of ‘It’. Simply put, it’s actually good.
This success and critical acclaim means that the next step for ‘It’ director Andy Muschietti and his sister, producer Barbara Muschietti, is to get the ball rolling on the planned sequel, ‘It: Chapter 2’. As has been widely reported, that sequel will tackle the second half of the story, which follows the now adult members of the Loser’s Club as they return to Derry to once again confront Pennywise. But the Muschiettis have more on their mind than ‘It: Chapter 2’ (which is still waiting for an official greenlight).
Fittingly enough, the siblings have their eye on another King property: ‘Pet Sematary’. The novel, of course, has previously been adapted for the screen in 1989, and there have been murmurs of a potential remake for years, with an array of filmmakers that includes Guillermo Del Toro expressing interest. While a remake at this time remains purely hypothetical, this may well be the perfect opportunity to move forward with one, given no only the critical and commercial success of ‘It’ but also the siblings’ evident love of the source material. As Andy Muschietti explains:
My affection for ‘Pet Sematary’ will go on until I die. I will always dream about the possibility of making a movie.
Barbara then added the following:
We’ll see who gets to it first. But it is the first Stephen King book that we read, and it’s something that has been a great love, because it is possibly King’s most personal book. You can imagine his young family. What will you do to be able to keep your family? How far would you go?
I really hope we can do it. But if we do it, we have to do it justice, like we did with ‘It’. The versions we read in the past years, the scripts we’ve read, have not been, in our opinion, representative of the book.
In many ways the original ‘Pet Sematary’ film typifies adaptations of King’s work. While the film itself has received very mixed reviews over the years, it remains nothing if not memorable. A remake would offer the chance to do the novel justice in ways that the original film simply never managed, especially if the Muschietti’s are given the chance to bring the same care to the project that they brought to ‘It’.
Would you like to see the Muschietti’s pay a visit to the ‘Pet Sematary’? Let us know in the comments!
