Paramount is looking to make its new streaming platform a rival for the likes of HBO Max and Disney Plus, with the studio announcing that they’re planning to release three to four major movies on the service per year. And one of the first on the way should reel in Stephen King and horror fans, as a Pet Sematary prequel is now in development as a Paramount Plus exclusive.
Deadline is reporting that the project will be an “origins story” for the chilling King tale, which centers on a burial ground for animals that can resurrect the dead. Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing, with the script provided by Jeff Buhler. Both di Bonaventura and Buhler were previously involved with the 2019 adaptation of King’s original novel, so we can infer that the prequel will be directly tied into that movie.
2019’s Pet Sematary grossed a solid $113.1 million at the box office, although it received mixed reviews, with critics and audiences divided over the changes it made to the source material, including switching the identity of the child who’s eerily brought back to life after their untimely death. Deadline didn’t reveal any plot details for the prequel, but there’s certainly an opening to explore the younger life of John Lithgow’s character Jud, who knows the graveyard of old.
Another horror feature that’s going up on Paramount Plus is a Paranormal Activity reboot directed by Underwater‘s Will Eubank and penned by the franchise’s long-term screenwriter Christopher Landon. Clearly, Paramount has realized that some of its best assets hail from the horror genre, which don’t typically pull in blockbuster figures at the box office but are the perfect choices to help drum up subscriptions for P+.
Paramount Plus, a rebranding/relaunch of CBS All Access, goes live in just over a week on March 4th, and you can let us know whether you like the idea of a Pet Sematary prequel in the usual place below.
