Lionsgate is dusting off one of the creepiest horror tales of the 1970s, with Sam Raimi and Roy Lee steering a remake of Magic.
The new take on the 1978 cult film, which originally starred Anthony Hopkins as a troubled magician whose ventriloquist dummy, Fats, begins to take control, will be scripted by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon. The writing duo previously worked together on Freddy vs. Jason and the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th.
Chris Hammond and Tim Sullivan, who have nurtured the project for years and secured the rights to William Goldman’s story, will produce alongside Raimi and Lee. Zainab Azizi is producing for Raimi Productions, with Paul Fishkin and Vertigo’s Andrew Childs on board as executive producers.
Directed by Richard Attenborough and adapted by Goldman from his own novel, the original Magic paired Hopkins with Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith. At the time of release, 20th Century Fox built buzz with an unsettling TV spot featuring only the dummy’s face delivering the chilling line: “Magic is fun; we’re dead.”
Sullivan, a lifelong devotee of the film, has been attached to the remake from its early stages. Hammond, whose credits include the Sylvester Stallone–Jamie Foxx drama Shade (2003), is also producing Reykjavik with Jeff Daniels, Jared Harris, and JK Simmons.
For Raimi, creator of the Evil Dead franchise, the project follows his upcoming survival horror thriller Send Help, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien — also written by Swift and Shannon. Lee, meanwhile, comes off the massive success of Zach Cregger’s Weapons, which has earned more than $236.7 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. He is also producing Lionsgate’s Stephen King adaptations The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and The Long Walk, the latter arriving in theatres on September 12.
