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All Stephen King movie adaptations in order of release

All the movie adaptations from the works of the King of Horror.
Image of Jonathan Wright
Jonathan Wright
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Published: Sep 8, 2023 12:44 am

Stephen King isn’t the most successful writer of our time just because his books never seem to let go of the best-selling charts. Even by the sheer number of adaptations from his book, King is the unrivaled genre storyteller of the past few decades. And the best part of that? A lot of those adaptations are actually pretty decent films, with a few like The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption going down in cinema history as a staple of the medium.

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When he isn’t busy weighing in on all sorts of drama in social media space, King likes to write books. He has written more than 60 novels, in a career that spans five decades, and since many of those novels turned into timeless classics, this was a ripe playground for the Hollywood content machine, ever in need of dramatic stories with a cinematic flair to turn them into blockbusters.

There have literally been dozens of attempts to adapt Stephen King, and indeed, if you look at the list we’ve accumulated below, you may see a few familiar titles yourself. Still, there are a lot of less popular gems for those who seriously wish to study King’s cinema, so let’s get to it without any further ado.

Image via Warner Bros.

This is a list of every Stephen King movie adaptation in order of release. (King himself has written the treatment for some, but they’ve all been otherwise based on his published stories.)

1970s to 1980s

  • Carrie (1976) — Directed by Brian de Palma and written by Lawrence D. Cohen
  • The Shining (1980) — Directed by Stanley Kubrick and written by Diane Johnson
  • Creepshow (1982) — Directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King
  • Cujo (1983) — Directed by Lewis Teague and written by Don Carlos Dunaway
  • The Dead Zone (1983) — Directed by David Cronenberg and written by Jeffrey Boam
  • Christine (1983) — Directed by John Carpenter and written by Bill Phillips
  • Children of the Corn (1984) — Directed by Fritz Kiersch and written by George Goldsmith
  • Firestarter (1984) — Directed by Mark L. Lester and written by Stanley Mann
  • Cat’s Eye (1985) — Directed by Lewis Teague and written by Stephen King
  • Silver Bullet (1985) — Directed by Don Attias and written by Stephen King
  • Maximum Overdrive (1986) — Directed and written by Stephen King
  • Stand by Me (1986) — Directed by Rob Reiner and written by Bruce A. Evans
  • Creepshow 2 (1987) — Directed by Michael Gornick and written by Stephen King
  • The Running Man (1987) — Directed by Paul Michael Glaser and written by Steven E. de Souza
  • Pet Sematary (1989) — Directed by Mary Lambert and written by Stephen King

1990s to 2000s

  • Tales From the Darkside (1990) — Directed by John Harrison and written by Michael McDowell (anthology)
  • Graveyard Shift (1990) — Directed by Ralph S. Singleton and written by John Esposito
  • Misery (1990) — Directed by Rob Reiner and written by William Goldman
  • Sometimes They Come Back (1991) — Directed by Tom McLoughlin and written by Lawrence Konner
  • Sleepwalkers (1992) — Directed by Mick Garris and written by Stephen King
  • The Lawnmower Man (1992) — Directed by Brett Leonard and written by Gimel Everett and Brett Leonard
  • The Dark Half (1993) — Directed and written by George A. Romero
  • Needful Things (1993) — Directed by Fraser Clark Heston and written by W. D. Richter
  • The Shawshank Redemption (1994) — Directed and written by Frank Darabont
  • The Mangler (1995) — Directed and written by Tobe Hooper
  • Dolores Claiborne (1995) — Directed by Taylor Hackford and written by Tony Gilroy
  • Thinner (1996) — Directed by Thomas Lee Holland and written by Michael McDowell
  • Michael Jackson’s Ghosts (1996) — Directed by Stan Winston and written by Mick Garris
  • The Night Flier (1997) — Directed by Mark Pavia and written by Jack O’Donnell
  • Trucks (1997) — Directed by Chris Thomson and written by Brian Taggert
  • Apt Pupil (1998) — Directed by Bryan Singer and written by Brandon Boyce
  • The Green Mile (1999) — Directed and written by Frank Darabont
  • Hearts in Atlantis (2001) — Directed by Scott Hicks and written by William Goldman
  • Carrie (2002) — Directed by David Carson and written by Bryan Fuller (re-imagining)
  • Dreamcatcher (2003) — Directed by Lawrence Kasdan and written by William Goldman
  • Secret Window (2004) — Directed and written by David Koepp
  • Riding the Bullet (2004) — Directed and written by Mick Garris
  • 1408 (2007) — Directed by Mikael Håfström and written by Matt Greenberg and Scott Alexander
  • The Mist (2007) — Directed and written by Frank Darabont
  • Dolan’s Cadillac (2009) — Directed by Jeff Beesley and written by Richard Dooling
  • Children of the Corn (2009) — Directed and written by Donald P. Borchers

2010s to 2020s

  • Carrie (2013) — Directed by Kimberly Peirce and written by Lawrence D. Cohen (remake)
  • Mercy (2014) — Directed by Peter Cornwell and written by Matt Greenberg
  • A Good Marriage (2014) — Directed by Peter Askin and written by Stephen King
  • Big Driver (2014) — Directed by Mikael Salomon and written by Richard Christian Matheson
  • Cell (2016) — Directed by Tod Williams and written by Stephen King
  • The Dark Tower (2017) — Directed by Nikolaj Arcel and written by Akiva Goldsman
  • It (2017) — Directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Cary Fukunaga
  • Gerald’s Game (2017) — Directed by Mike Flanagan and written by Jeff Howard
  • 1922 (2017) — Directed and written by Zak Hilditch
  • Pet Sematary (2019) — Directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer and written by Jeff Buhler (remake)
  • In the Tall Grass (2019) — Directed and written by Vincenzo Natali
  • Doctor Sleep (2019) — Directed and written by Mike Flanagan
  • It Chapter Two (2019) — Directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Gary Dauberman
  • Children of the Corn (2020) — Directed and written by Kurt Wimmer (remake)
  • Firestarter (2022) — Directed by Keith Thomas and written by Scott Teems
  • Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022) — Directed and written by John Lee Hancock
  • The Boogeyman (2023) — Directed by Rob Savage and written by Scott Beck
  • Salem’s Lot (2023) — Directed and written by Gary Dauberman

Say what you will about the man and his eccentric creative process, but his mark on literature and cinema is so far-reaching that perhaps no other creative will be able to match his impact, let alone imitate his success, in the near future.

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Author
Image of Jonathan Wright
Jonathan Wright
Jonathan is a religious consumer of movies, TV shows, video games, and speculative fiction. And when he isn't doing that, he likes to write about them. He can get particularly worked up when talking about 'The Lord of the Rings' or 'A Song of Ice and Fire' or any work of high fantasy, come to think of it.