The upcoming Firestarter remake edges closer, with the movie now receiving an official R rating from the MPA. Revealed courtesy of Filmratings.com, the horror venture, which is a remake of the 1984 movie of the same name starring Drew Barrymore and based on the novel by seminal author Stephen King, has been given the rating thanks to “violent content.” While vague, it should at least assuage the fears of those fans concerned that the remake would shy away from the death and destruction caused by the pyrokinesis on display.
Much like the 1984 adaptation before it, the Firestarter remake will once again be based on Stephen King’s classic sci-fi novel of the same name from 1980. Directed by Keith Tomas (The Vigil) from a script which was adapted by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills, Rectify) and with Jason Blum and Academy Award winner Akiva Goldsman on board as producers, Firestarter follows a young man who must protect his daughter after she suddenly develops pyrokinesis and is hunted by a secret government agency known as The Shop that intends to capture and control her.
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The Firestarter remake comes courtesy of Universal Pictures, Blumhouse, and Weed Road Productions, and stars Zac Efron, Michael Greyeyes, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, and Gloria Reuben.
The story of Firestarter has been adapted for the screen before, with director Mark L. Lester helming an adaptation in 1984 starring David Keith, Martin Sheen George C. Scott, and a young Drew Barrymore. The movie was sadly not met with a very warm critical reception, with Stephen King himself describing the live-action effort as “one of the worst of the bunch” of the adaptations of his work he had seen. The 1980s effort has since garnered something of a following but leaves a lot of room for the remake to make some much-needed improvements.
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Producer Jason Blum, who has become well-known for his affinity for horror thanks to such modern releases as The Invisible Man, Sinister, Halloween, Get Out, and Upgrade and many more has previously revealed that Stephen King himself has given his stamp of approval to the upcoming Firestarter remake.
“Firestarter, you know, (laughs) it’s a better book than a movie all those years ago, but it was just such, such a great idea, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Blum said last year. “And I wouldn’t want to do it unless, same thing [as The Purge and James DeMonaco], unless - by the way, we couldn’t do it unless - Stephen King was okay with it. But he gave us our blessing, and that gave me the confidence to think, ‘Well, let’s give this a shot.’ So I hope he likes it. He liked the script, so hopefully he’ll like the movie.”
Principal photography began on Firestarter back in May 2021, before wrapping soon after in July. The remake of Firestarter has not yet been given a release date, but with a rating now confirmed, we can likely expect further updates very soon.
