The renaissance of Stephen King adaptations is now so much of a moneyspinner that the author’s newest novels barely make it to shelved before their options are snapped up. With his last novel Billy Summers already picked up by J.J. Abrams’ Bat Robot productions for a limited series, his newest novel Fairy Tale, which was only released last week, is to be adapted, directed and produced by British director Paul Greengrass.
Stephen King is well known for offering up the rights to his novels for the lowly sum of $1, with a healthy return from the profits of the resulting projects, and Fairy Tale is no exception. With a classic King storyline involving an intrepid teenager with a troubled family life, a magical but dangerous alternate reality, and a battle of good and evil, the novel is another instant King classic that stands alongside the likes of The Talisman, Rose Madder and his epic Dark Tower Saga for its imagination and execution.
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Paul Greengrass has had his fair share of cinematic hits, with dramas such as United 93 and Captain Phillips standing alongside the three Jason Bourne movies, and while this is one of the director’s first forays into a fantasy-orientated setting, there is no doubt that there will be a lot of interest in the project. Deadline quoted King as saying of the director, “Needless to say, I’m a Paul Greengrass fan and think he’s a wonderful choice for this film.”
Additionally, Greengrass expressed his excitement to be driving the project, adding, “Fairy Tale is a work of genius. A classic adventure story and also a disturbing contemporary allegory.”
Stephen King Adaptations Have Been Hitting the Mark
For fans of Stephen King, movie and TV adaptations were often stunted throughout the 80s and 90s, with obvious exceptions, largely due to either laughable special effects or story contractions that took away the heart of the movie. However, the last two decades have seen a huge surge in King adaptations that have flipped the narrative, with most of them providing hits both critically and commercially.
Recently there have been new versions of IT and The Stand, as well as the likes of The Outsider, Mr. Mercedes, and more that have delivered King’s work to screen, and there are many more to come. Currently, Blumhouse is looking to follow up their disappointing Firestarter with a remake of Christine, adaptations of The Talisman, The Regulators and Salem’s Lot are on their way, and prequels to Pet Sematary and IT are also in the works. With King currently putting out two new books a year, it is unlikely that the adaptations are going to come to an end anytime soon, so fans can know that, for better or worse, there are going to be plenty more tales of horror coming to the big and small screen in the coming years. Now, if someone could only revive Ron Howard’s idea of a multiplatform universe based on King’s Dark Tower novels and other connected stories…
