James Wan, the man behind The Conjuring franchise, & Roy Lee, producer of It, are joining forces to adapt Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers.
The duo, who would produce via their respective banners Atomic Monster and Vertigo, has teamed up with Larry Sanitsky, the veteran producer who executive produced the Tommyknockers’ 1993 television miniseries adaptation.
The project is expected to garner keen interest thanks to several factors. The book is the second best-selling King book of all time in its initial hardcover release and outsold such King classics as “It”, “The Shining” and “Carrie”. And there is already a hungry appetite for King material thanks to the success of It, New Line’s adaptation that proved to be a surprise hit when it grossed $700 million worldwide.
The novel tells the story of a town in Maine that falls under the influence of a dangerous gas from an unearthed spacecraft. The gas begins to transform the people, giving them enhanced abilities, but also making them violent and subject to an alien hive mentality. One man, thanks to a steel plate in his head, is immune to the effects and tries to stop the townspeople.
The ABC mini-series starred Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger and was a massive ratings hit. In 2013, NBC announced it would make another adaptation but those plans never came to fruition.
