Sony Remaking ’90s Cult Classic ‘The Craft’ With ‘Honeymoon’ Director Leigh Janiak
Sony wants to cast a spell on a whole new generation of moviegoers. The studio is cuing up a remake ofThe Craft, the 1996 horror thriller about a group of teenage outcasts who get involved in witchcraft. But the really good news here is that it’s being directed byLeigh Janiak, who made her directorial debut last year with the very creepyHoneymoon.
Get all the details on theThe Craftremake after the jump.
In addition to directing, Janiak will also co-writeThe Craftremake with herHoneymoonco-writerPhil Graziadei. According toTHR, Janiak won the job with her take onThe Craftas a female empowerment tale.Doug WickandLucy Fisherwill produce. Wick was a producer on the originalThe Craft, while Fisher was vice chairman of distributor Columbia Pictures at the time.
Andrew Flemingco-wrote (withPeter Filardi) and directed the 1996 film, which starredRobin Tunneyas a supernaturally gifted girl who befriends three misfit girls at her new school (played byFairuza Balk,Neve Campbell, andRachel True). The four girls decide to use witchcraft for personal gain, only to discover that calling upon dark forces has its consequences.
Janiak was working as an assistant to producer Kevin Misher before she made the switch last year to directing. Her first feature,Honeymoon, premiered at SXSW last year. The horror film centered on a couple (Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway) whose romantic getaway turns into a nightmare.
As far as remakes go,The Craftsounds pretty promising. The original cult classic is a quintessentially ’90s film, and was a coming-of-age staple for a generation of kids who didn’t quite fit in. But the premise is flexible enough to be updated for 2015. And hey, today’s young goths need something to latch onto.
Plus, it’s great to hear the studio is going with a female filmmaker for this female-centric story. Janiak seems like a particularly smart choice. What madeHoneymoonso effective was its use of genre tropes to tap into real-world fears. Hopefully she’ll be able to work the same magic withThe Craft.
