The remake of Stephen King’s Children of the Corn has been in a state of limbo for two years, but finally looks set to be released very soon. The latest adaptation of a King story looks to reboot the franchise that first began in 1984 and has spawned ten mediocre sequels, which is an accomplishment considering the original movie was a financial success, but didn’t exactly get glowing reviews. This time around, the film will take a new look at the King short story, adapting it with the sense of a prequel rather than a direct adaptation. According to Deadline, the film will be released in cinemas on March 3, with a digital release following on March 21.
The new take on the Children of the Corn story takes place before the events of the 1984 movie and the short story, to show how the titular children take over a small town and worship a being known as He Who Walks Behind The Rows. Having been completed just prior to the full impact of the Covid pandemic being felt, the movie was released briefly in two cinemas, but further release plans were put on hold and never resolved. Now, thanks to RLJE Films and Shudder acquiring the rights to distribute the film, it will become one of the only Children of the Corn movies to actually make it to theaters.
The synopsis for the movie reads:
“A psychopathic twelve-year-old girl in a small town in Nebraska recruits all the other children and goes on a bloody rampage, killing the corrupt adults and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won't go along with the plan is the town's only hope of survival.”
Will Children of the Corn Finally Get A Good Adaptation?
It has been proven on a number of occasions that it is sometimes less risky to adapt a Stephen King short story than one of his huge, sprawling novels. However, when it comes to Children of the Corn that has been seen to not always be the case. The original movie starred Terminator’s Linda Hamilton and although the initial reaction to the movie was not outstanding, the film has found its place in the world as cult classic.
However, the subsequent sequels have been straight-to-video affairs, both in terms of quality and success and it seemed like the franchise was destined to stay there after so many bad sequels. Currently there have been no reviews of the new movie, and it is hard to gauge whether it is going to manage to break a three decade long chain of disappointment or simply continue to drag out a story that really was only simple enough to warrant two movies at most. Children of the Corn is written and directed by Kurt Wimmer, and stars a mostly unknown young cast led by Elena Kampouris and Kate Moyer.