The first image from Stephen King adaptation Cell has arrived today alongside news that Clarius Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. Helmed by Paranormal Activity 2’s Tod Williams, the movie stars John Cusack as a man desperate to track down his family after a bizarre Twilight Zone-inspired incident hits the country.
Co-starring Samuel L. Jackson (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan) and Stacy Keach (Nebraska), Cell orbits around this central group of strangers who unite after a signal hits all mobile phone networks across the U.S. The dangerous transmission soon turns cell phone users into murderous slaves to an unknown power. Needless to say, they each strive to find their loved ones as the national crisis escalates.
As a first teaser for those disastrous events, the image which accompanied the news is pretty standard fare. Cusack, Jackson and Fuhrman stand on a vandalized street, with the former clutching a baseball bat. Could he have spotted that 60 inch plasma he’s had his eye on? Cusack, an opportunist? Nah!
The chances of a Stephen King TV series or movie arriving at any given time are pretty favorable due to the author’s prolific output. Since King began scribbling some thirty plus years ago he’s spawned more than fifty best-selling novels. The stories contained within have provided Hollywood with a ton of ideas ripe for transformation. While not all have received favorable word from critics (the Carrie reboot, anyone?), a fair chunk honor their source material (The Mist) and then some.
Where will Cell land on the King scale? We’ll find out when it arrives in theaters later this year.
When a powerful signal is broadcast across mobile networks worldwide, cell phone users’ minds are instantly and dangerously re-programmed. Heading north through New England in search of his wife and son, Clay Riddell (Cusack) is joined by a group of survivors hoping to fend off the bloodthirsty and hyper-connected “phoners.”
