Sam Raimi recently scored a hit with his first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessand it looks like one of its next potential box office winners will be a remake of the 1978 horror film Magic. The original film starring Anthony Hopkins, directed by Richard Attenborough, is considered one of the best horror films about an evil doll ever made. Raimi will direct the film, which will be produced by Roy Lee, who revealed details of Raimi’s involvement in the film during a recent interview.
Magic is based on the book by William Goldman and tells the story of a ventriloquist at the mercy of his villainous doll as he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart. The subject fits right into Raimi’s horror street, and we can expect many classic Raimi tropes to be used in the unnerving film.
Roy Lee spoke up Post Mortem with Mick Garris when he happened to say that he is producing a new version of the film with the Evil Dead director. Lee noted:
“I have only worked with [Sam Raimi] as a producer of movies… actually… the first time I’m going to work with him as a director is on a remake of Magic. That’s something we’re working on right now. The Anthony Hopkins movie. We won’t hear the final versions of the various recordings from writers until next week. [Sam] loved the original movie and book written by William Goldman,”
Raimi and Lee are a perfect match
Although Sam Raimi has made some more family-oriented films, the director’s best-known work is firmly rooted in the horror genre. Of The Evil DeathRaimi made himself an icon of horror, and through countless Evil Dead projects, drag me to helland with producer credits for films such as the resentment and don’t breathe, he has continued to keep a foot firmly planted in unholy ground. This makes him a perfect match with Roy Lee, who has quite a few horror movies to his credit himself, including Don’t worry Darling, Barbarian, His House, It, It: Chapter Two, Doctor Sleep, Blair Witchand the coming The Salem lot.
Although it is clear that Magic Still in the very early stages of script planning, it’s good to know where Raimi’s next horror fix will come from, though it may still be a few years away. His recent comments show that he also has no intention of moving away from the genre that made his name, with the director expressing a desire to adopt something from another horror master, Stephen King. He previously said:
“Oh, absolutely. I love The Shining, but someone already had that. And I loved Carrie, but that was already made by the time I read it. And then his Night Shift collection is so brilliant. So much of it those stories “I would have made great movies. Rob Reiner made a great movie that I wanted to make too. So there’s been plenty of great King stories that I’d like to work on. Maybe we can work together in the future.”