James Wan To Produce Two New Horror Movies, ‘Arachnophobia’ Remake And Stephen King’s ‘Tommyknockers’

Two new horror movies are in the works, Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers and a remake of Arachnophobia, and it has been reported that genre maestro James Wan is producing both. With producer and director credits including the Saw, Insidious, and Conjuring franchises, James Wan is a leading filmmaker for the horror genre. Wan is the director of Aquaman, currently in post-production, and he is a highly sought-after artist. With numerous titles announced and others in post-production, Wan is about to become even busier.

As Deadline reported, an Arachnophobia redo is in the works and the horror maestro will produce. A writer has not yet been set, but the original’s director, Frank Marshall, will act as executive producer. The original was one of the most popular horror movies of 1990, and it stars Jeff Daniels, Harley Jane Kozak, John Goodman, Julian Sands, Stuart Pankin, and Brian McNamara.

For those that need a refresher, Rotten Tomatoes describes the horror-comedy.

“Arachnophobia features a particularly deadly species of spider that manages to make its way from the Venezuelan rain forest to a small California town, thanks to the many oversights of entomologist Julian Sands. Yuppie doctor Jeff Daniels, fed up with the dangers inherent in big-city living, has resettled in this town on the assumption that nothing untoward could ever happen here to himself and his family. Before long, however, Daniels is trying to make sense of a series of sudden deaths-and to figure out why each of the corpses has been drained of blood. The audience, of course, knows that the culprits are those pesky South American spiders, which grow larger with each kill.”

James Wan will also be acting as producer for the film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Roy Lee, producer of the 2017 horror hit It, will also produce. The executive producer of The Tommyknockers 1993 miniseries, Larry Sanitsky, holds the screen rights, so he will also be involved. It should also be noted that IMDb lists James Wan as the current director for the new Stephen King horror flick.

With titles like Death Room, Doorway, The Stand, and Prey For Us, The Tommyknockers is just one of several horror films that have been announced based on Stephen King’s work. For King fans who are anxious for more horror movies based on the author’s books, they can look forward to Doctor Sleep, It: Chapter 2, a Pet Sematary remake, and Strawberry Spring; all films are in post-production and will be released between 2018 and 2020.