Stephen King‘s Desperation is headed to the big screen, with Searchlight bringing together some high flying names to develop a take on the 1996 novel by the horror maestro.
In-demand filmmaking duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein are in talks to direct. And in a first, Sam Raimi and King will be working together on a project, with Raimi producing along with his Ghost House Pictures partner Robert Tapert. Ryan Brennan is writing the script.
Per the logline: “Stranded in a remote desert town where something evil has awakened, a group of travelers must fight to survive when a sadistic, possessed cop turns routine arrests into a relentless fight for their lives.”
Lipovsky and Stein became hot commodities in Hollywood last summer thanks to the sleeper hit Final Destination: Bloodlines, and the two have a full schedule of projects in the works, including the short story adaptation Long Lost, set up with Amblin and Universal, and writing duties on Chris Columbus’ third Gremlins movie, as well as an animated Venom movie and Metal Gear Solid, both at Sony.
Stein and Lipovsky are also producing, with Romel Adam andJose Cañasexecutive producing.
SVP of productionTaylor Friedmanand creative execCameron Chidseyare overseeing for Searchlight, reporting to heads of production and developmentDanTram NguyenandKatie Goodson-Thomas. Mahdi Salehi at Hansen Jacobson handled the deal on behalf of Ghost House.
King properties have been particularly hot over the past decade, with last year alone bringing It: Welcome to Derry, The Long Walk, The Life of Chuck and The Running Man.
Stein and Lipovsky are repped by Verve, Ground Control and Jamie Feldman.
Raimi, the pioneering horror maestro behind Evil Dead as well as the original Spider-Man trilogy, is repped by CAA. He was last in theaters with Send Help.