Sam Raimi recently scored a hit with his first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and it looks like one of his next potential box office winners will be a remake of the 1978 horror movie Magic. The original movie starred Anthony Hopkins, under the direction of Richard Attenborough, and is considered one of the best horror movies about an evil doll to have been made. Raimi will be directing the movie, which will be produced by Roy Lee, who let the details of Raimi’s involvement in the movie slip during a recent interview.
Magic is based on the book by William Goldman, and tells the story of a ventriloquist who is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart. The subject matter is right up Raimi’s horror street, and we can expect to see plenty of classic Raimi tropes being used in the unnerving movie.
Roy Lee was speaking on Post Mortem with Mick Garris when he happened to mention that he is producing a new version of the movie with the Evil Dead director. Lee commented:
“I’ve only worked with [Sam Raimi] as a producer on films… actually… the first time I’m gonna work with him as a director is on a remake of Magic. Which is something that we’re working on now. The Anthony Hopkins movie. We’re just actually hearing the final versions of the different takes from writers next week. [Sam] loved the original movie and the book written by William Goldman,”
Raimi and Lee Are A Perfect Match
Although Sam Raimi has made some more family-orientated movies, the director’s best-known work is firmly rooted in the horror genre. With The Evil Dead, Raimi made himself an icon of horror, and through numerous Evil Dead projects, Drag Me To Hell, and with producer credits on movies such as The Grudge and Don’t Breathe, he has continued to keep one foot firmly in planted in unholy ground. This makes him a perfect pairing with Roy Lee, who has himself got a healthy roster of horror movies to his credit, including Don’t Worry Darling, Barbarian, His House, It, It: Chapter Two, Doctor Sleep, Blair Witch, and the upcoming Salem’s Lot.
Although it is clear that Magic is just in the very early stages of script planning, it is good to know where Raimi’s next horror fix will be coming from, although it could be a couple of years away yet. From his recent comments, he isn’t planning to step back from the genre that made his name either, with the director expressing a desire to take on something from another horror master, Stephen King. He previously said:
"Oh, absolutely. I love The Shining, but someone already had that. And I loved Carrie, but that had already been made by the time I had read it. And then his Night Shift collection is so brilliant. So many of those stories would've made great movies. Rob Reiner made a great one that I wanted to make too. So there's been plenty of great King stories that I wish I could get involved with. Maybe in the future we can work together.”