It feels as though barely a week goes by without a new Stephen King adaptation being announced for film or television, which probably isn’t too far from the truth. As of right now, there are currently eighteen feature films and seven episodic projects in development, eight if you include J.J. Abrams’ Shining prequel series Overlook that wasn’t picked up by HBO Max.
Studios just can’t seem to get enough of the horror author’s back catalogue, and the slate contains just as many reboots and remake as it does titles first-time adaptations. 2019’s Pet Sematary is modern Hollywood’s King fascination in microcosm; it’s only been two years since the updated version of the 1989 original was released, but a prequel is already in production for Paramount+.
Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer’s supernatural chiller was a success at the box office after earning $113 million on a $20 million budget, but the critical response was a lot more muted. Rotten Tomatoes has only deemed it worthy of a 57% score, while audiences rated at an even lower 32%, which is a rarity for smash hit horror.
As we gear up to enter spooky season, we can expect countless scary films to start making their way up the Netflix most-watched list. Pet Sematary has already accomplished that feat, having managed to crack the Top 20 this week as per FlixPatrol.