Hollywood is never going to give up on its long-running obsession for Stephen King adaptations, but it would be nice if the industry were to focus on quality over quantity, because the bandwagon might just come off the rails if we end up with a few more duds like the upcoming Children of the Corn remake.
Quite why anyone thought it was a wise idea to mount another version of a story that had already been the subject of eight terrible sequels and a prior remake is anyone’s guess, because it’s not as if the King factory is ever going to start running out of content that can be brought to either the big or small screens.
Alarm bells were already set ringing when Children of the Corn vanished without a trace after principal photography had wrapped, before maintaining radio silence for two whole years before the distribution rights were acquired and a release date was set. The good news is that it’s finally poised to see the light of day, but the downside is that it’s officially the worst-rated King adaptation of all-time.
At the time of writing, Children of the Corn holds a bottom of the barrel zero percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of just two features based on the maestro of the macabre’s work to score the unwanted distinction. To put that into perspective, there have been upwards of 50 film and television projects inspired, influenced, or ripped directly from the pages of King’s prose, so anyone with a vested interest in seeing the latest might want to bail out while they still can.