Co-directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmeyer have announced the start of principal photography on their remake of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.
Based on King’s 1983 novel, Pet Sematary follows a family that moves into a house situated next to a pet cemetery with the power to resurrect the dead. The 1989 original adaptation directed was a modest hit, followed by a less successful 1992 sequel starring a young Edward Furlong.
RELATED: Pet Sematary Remake Unearths 2019 Release Date
Kolsch and Widmeyer, whose previous credits include Starry Eyes, are directing from a script written by horror veterans Jeff Buhler (The Midnight Meat Train) and David Kajganich (Blood Creek). Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) stars as Dr. Louis Creed.
Day one. #PetSematary pic.twitter.com/dfBAuW95xo
— Dennis Widmyer (@denniswidmyer) June 18, 2018
After years of teasing that a Pet Sematary remake was going to happen, Paramount Pictures has fast-tracked the project for release on April 19, 2019.
The film heads in front of the camera even as King’s perennial popular works are enjoying a resurgence in other media, fueled in part by the box-office success of It. In addition to the sequel, It: Chapter Two, there’s also the Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, The Stand and the upcoming Hulu anthology drama Castle Rock, to name only four.
Pet Sematary stars Amy Seimetz as Rachel Creed, Jason Clarke as Louis Creed, and John Lithgow as Jud Crandall.