Lionsgate is unleashing a chilling remake of Magic. The iconic 1978 horror film starred a young Anthony Hopkins as a dangerously unstable ventriloquist. This reimagining is being helmed by horror royalty. Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi is producing alongside Roy Lee, the prolific powerhouse behind the recent summer smash, Weapons.
Lending their veteran horror sensibilities to the script are Mark Swift and Damian Shannon. They previously penned Freddy vs. Jason and the Friday the 13th remake.
Magic originally starred Hopkins as Corky, a magician who achieves stardom with his foul-mouthed ventriloquist’s dummy, Fats. When Corky faces a career-defining network TV deal, his fragile mental state fractures. He flees to the Catskills. As he tries to rekindle a romance with a high school flame, the puppet Fats begins to take control.
The original film also starred Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith. Richard Attenborough directed the original, written by William Goldman and based on his novel. It famously generated early buzz with a terrifying TV ad that focused solely on the dummy’s face, delivering the chilling line, “Magic is fun, we’re dead.”
This project has been a labor of love, shepherded by Chris Hammond and Tim Sullivan, a longtime devotee of the original who has championed the remake from its inception. Hammond and Sullivan will produce alongside Raimi and Lee. Lionsgate, Hammond, and Sullivan spent considerable time securing rights from the producers of the original film to pave the way for this terrifying new version.
Both producers, Le and Raimi, are currently dominating the horror landscape:
Roy Lee is on an incredible hot streak, having produced Zach Cregger’s Weapons, which grossed over $236.7 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. Lee is also working on Lionsgate’s upcoming Stephen King adaptations, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and The Long Walk.
Sam Raimi‘s most recent project, Send Help, is a survival-horror thriller starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. It was written by Magic scribes Swift and Shannon.
If you’ve never had the pleasure of watching the original Magic, you can stream it now on AMC, Prime Video, and Shudder. Here’s a look back at the trailer.
