According to producer Roy Lee, famed filmmaker, Sam Raimi will remake the 1978 horror picture Magic, which starred the late, great Anthony Hopkins as the puppet master. It was just announced by Lee on the podcast Post Mortem with Mick Garris, where he said, “I’ve only worked with [Sam Raimi] as a producer on films… really… the first time I’m going to work with him as a filmmaker is on a remake of Magic. And that’s exactly what we’re up to right this second! the movie starring Anthony Hopkins. The final versions of the various writers’ draughts will be presented to us next week. “[Sam] adored the original movie and the book written by William Goldman,” Lee continued. Goldman adapted his own work into the screenplay for Richard Attenborough’s original film.
Starring Hopkins and Ann-Margret, the cult film featured the story of a ventriloquist whose deadly dummy plots to ruin his romantic life. While it only made around $24 million on a budget of about $7 million when it was first released in theatres in November 1978, the picture has since achieved cult status. It would make the most sense for Raimi to take the helm of a remake of the bizarre horror film Magic from 1978. The Evil Dead and its sequel Evil Dead II were Raimi’s first directing credits, and he went on to head other classic horror movies including Darkman and the Evil Dead sequel Army of Darkness. Raimi’s reputation grew when he directed Spider-Man (2002) and its two sequels.
Raimi is expected to direct the future films The Kingkiller Chronicle and World War 3, in addition to directing this year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Lee has produced a wide variety of genre films during the course of his career. The Departed, The Ring, and The Grudge were among the first films on which Lee worked as an executive producer. Since then, he has worked as a producer on films including The Strangers, Quarantine, The Uninvited, The Boy, and Blair Witch.
Lee has been associated with a number of recent hits like Watcher, Barbarian, and Don’t Worry Darling since releasing 2017’s It. Lee has been linked to a wide range of forthcoming films and TV shows, such as remakes of The Strangers, Late Night with the Devil, Salem’s Lot, The Tommyknockers, Battle Royale, a reboot of Friday the 13th, and a Hellraiser series. Both a writer and cast for the planned remake of Magic have yet to be revealed.