Much like the Overlook Hotel itself, it seems that The Shining is a little hard to escape. In a move that is sure to have fans of the original film crying for red rum, Warner Brothers is exploring the possibility of a new Shining movie, set before the events of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic. The film, which does not yet have a writer attached, reportedly would tell the story of Jack Torrance before that fateful visit. The story of Jack Torrance, spousal abuser, doesn’t sound particularly exciting, but perhaps what is meant is the story of the Hotel’s previous caretaker, and whatever started the whole “elevators full of blood” haunting.
Either way, though, it’s a little hard to believe that Warner Brothers is looking to make a prequel to a movie that’s more than twenty years old, with none of the principal people involved. Kubrick’s dead, and Jack Nicholson is far too old to play a younger Jack Torrance. And Stephen King was reportedly unhappy with Kubrick’s film, so he’s unlikely to lend a hand. But then, King has his own ideas for expanding the decades-old story of The Shining.
Stephen King has reportedly just finished writing Doctor Sleep, a story which features a grown Danny Torrance coming to the aid of another shining child, who has been targeted by a group of murderous paranormal beings who live off the suffering of children who shine. Danny is aided by a prescient cat. Doctor Sleep is due for release in January 2013; it has not yet been optioned for a film adaptation, and considering the disdain King reportedly has for Kubrick’s film, it’s up in the air as to whether Warner Brothers would want to adapt it, and whether King would want them to.
So on the one hand, we have a movie studio that wants to make a prequel to a film that came out in 1980, without the involvement of the director, star, or the author who wrote the original story. On the other hand, we have an author who wants to make a sequel to the same story, which was primarily made famous through a film which he has disavowed. Either way, it sounds like there’s a lot of potential for King and Kubrick fans to be grinning not in joy, but in the grip of madness. Best to hide the axes, I think. I don’t see either of these turning out particularly well.
Morgan on Media 
A very naughty studio is need of “correcting”, sir.
“Do you have the slightest idea what a moral and ethical principle is? Do you?”
I like the way you put that K2. LOL
What, you’re not clamoring for a prequel? I’m shocked! 😛
hmmmm you know, I guess if you think that Jack has always been at the hotel in some form, you could make some sort of prequel. Of course, I think the whole Idea makes as much sense as running around a hedge maze in the dead of winter.
Oh, I’m sure there’s a story that could be told… I just kind of doubt there’s a story that should be told.
Nothing is sacred…
Who knows, its a prequel, Kubrick wont be involved and I doubt Jack will, so it’ll be easy enough to ignore if it sucks. So, whatever, I’m not as freaked as I probably should be. At least its not a straight up remake.
But that Stephen King idea sounds almost worse. A cat? WTF… that dude should lay off the drugs,
But the drugs are where he gets all his ideas!
Yeah, at least it’s not a remake, but I can’t see the prequel being any good. Part of what makes the original work is that mystery of what happened before. So showing what happened before weakens the overall story. I just don’t see a good outcome there.
How about movie studios spend their time and effort on creating and nurturing new ideas? I love comic book films and a fair few sequels, but I am missing original films now.
Wait… original films? Do they still make those?
I have nothing to say about this news except; no.
Simple and eloquent.
When is Hollywood gonna stop? It’s painfully embarrassing. But the sad thing is, people claim they want new, original ideas, but then we flock to the theaters to see Total Recall. In order to stop this mindless production of remakes, sequels, prequels, and the like, audiences have to actually change. I’m 100% sure this is going to be crap.
Yeah, I don’t have high hopes for this either. It’s true, too, that Hollywood keeps up with the sequels, remakes, and so forth because the audience goes to them. It doesn’t always work (especially in the case of remakes), but it’s pretty reliable with sequels.
Remakes are usually a crap shoot. But during the years, sequels are starting to join that rank, too. I wrote an article about how to discern if a sequel is going to be suck or super. You can check it out here: http://randomfilmbuff.com/2012/06/27/d/