Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is one of those films that you can safely call a masterpiece. Everything about the movie is brilliant, and that's all because of the fact that Kubrick was one of the greatest minds in the entertainment business. This movie, based on the amazing Stephen King novel of the same name, is still thought of today as the one of the greatest horror films ever made, if not, the greatest.
And of course, you're an idiot if you think Hollywood won't try to ruin that with a reboot, sequel, or a prequel. It's been said for over a year now that it is indeed a prequel that is being developed, with Never Let Me Go director Mark Romanek helming the project. The film is said to be titled The Overlook Hotel, and will take place twenty years before the original film. As much as I want them to leave this amazing film alone, I have to say, the movie could very well be great.
Collider sat down with James Vanderbilt, the screenwriter of the film, and asked him about the movie. “You want a real filmmaker like Mark doing it,” he said. “Honestly I think people will really be excited about it, because it’s not like ’20 Years Before The Shining!’. I don’t want to give too much away about the story but the way [screenwriter] Glen [Mazzara] cracked it and the way Mark has sort of cracked it, it’s completely it’s own film, which I think is super smart. It’s not like, ‘When Scatman Crothers was young, he…’ it’s not that.”
The movie is moving along slowly, with no official release date or any cast announced yet, but Vanderbilt seems really confident in this movie, and he goes on to praise their take on The Shining and the director. “One of the things that’s amazing about [Mark] is that he’s a strong filmmaker with his own convictions, and Mark is gonna make the movie Mark is gonna make… I think there’s something wonderful about a director who says, ‘No, this is the film.’ Fincher was the same way. It’s like, ‘This is the movie I wanna make. If you don’t wanna make that movie, that’s totally cool, then we won’t make the movie.’ And now as someone who’s directed a film, that’s kinda what you want. You want the captain of the ship to be like, ‘I know what the film is, I know how to make it, let’s go do it.’”
This is not the first time a follow up to a Stanley Kubrick film was made. A sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in the 80's, titled simply 2010, which I actually just watched for the first time the other day. It obviously didn't have the same magic as the original, but it was still a good film on its own. If they can pull of the same thing with this prequel to The Shining, I'll be happy. What do you think of the idea of making a prequel to this infamous film over three decades later? Sound off in the usual spot!