20th Century Fox to adapt Stephen King's short story 'The Boogeyman'
Twentieth Century Fox looks to resurrect folklore's long unseen predatory demon that exists beneath the beds and in the closets of children's bedrooms!
Deadline reports Twentieth Century Fox is finalizing a deal to adapt Stephen King's short story - The Boogeyman - from A Quiet Place co-writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Fox’s acquisition marks the first studio feature adaptation for one of King’s most haunting tales about a paranoid and grieving father whose three children have all been murdered by an unseen monster his children referred to as “the Boogeyman”.
The Boogeyman was originally published in Cavalier Magazine back in 1973 and was later included as part of King's short story collection in 1978's Night Shift series. Notably, six stories from Night Shift were spawned as full-length features including Children of the Corn, The Lawnmower Man, Maximum Overdrive, and Tobe Hooper's The Mangler.
Fox's adaptation comes as a long overdue but welcomed surprise in part, because King's short story infuses such memorable dread that deserves the big screen treatment with a modern touch but also, because King's previous 'Boogeyman' adaptations came as short films that were not accessible to viewing audiences. And unlike the seemingly countless genre efforts projecting loose incarnations as part of the 'Boogeyman' zeitgeist, King’s take essentially transcends the traditional childhood fear of a monster whom parents say do not exist, through the parental lens of an adult who has lost their children to folklore's predatory demon.
21 Laps will co-produce along with Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Deadline was not able to confirm who has been tapped to write or direct but the team behind Paramount's A Quiet Place certainly has our attention. [The Law Offices of] Beck and Woods are also attached to write and direct Eli Roth's thriller Haunt in 2019.
