Joe Dante to Direct Little Shop of Horrors Reboot

Joe Dante is the iconic director known for helming Gremlins, The Howling, The Burbs, Small Soldiers, and much more. It’s been a long time since the 77-year-old creative has directed a feature film. Dante has helmed multiple episodes of television in recent years, including DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Hawaii Five-O. He also directed a segment in the anthology movie, Nightmare Cinema. However, Dante hasn’t directed a feature since Burying the Ex was released ten years ago. According to a new report from Deadline, Dante’s next project will be a new version of Little Shop of Horrors. 

The original Little Shop of Horrors was directed by Roger Corman in 1960 before it was adapted into a musical. The 1986 musical movie of the same name was helmed by Frank Oz. According to the report, Dante is directing a new version called Little Shop of Halloween Horrors that is more in line with Corman’s original film. In fact, Corman is producing the project, which is meant to be a reimaging that will kick off a new franchise. 

Dante and Corman are teaming up with Emmy-nominated producer Brad Krevoy, CEO of MPCA, on the project. The script was written by Charles S. Haas (Gremlins 2: The New Batch). Independent producer Charles Cohen is also a part of the team.

Is Chris Evans’ Little Shop of Horrors Still Happening?

In 2020, it was reported that Marvel star Chris Evans was involved in a Little Shop remake. This news broke shortly before the pandemic shut down development on all film and television productions. A couple of years ago, Evans took to social media with the hopes of getting a fan campaign to build excitement for the project. Unfortunately, it was later reported that the movie was no longer in motion. 

“I would love Star Wars and musicals. Look, man, I’m dying for those things to happen,” Evans shared with MTV News in 2022. “I was supposed to do Little Shop of Horrors a couple years ago and then, you know, COVID happened and there were budget issues. And I think actually the director might have jumped off the project, but that was a heartbreaker. That’s my favorite musical.”

He continued, “I even thought about posting my audition, just to stir the pot, just to see if I could poke Warner Bros. a little bit, to see if maybe, for the first time ever, I could get some fan reactions to let them know, ‘Come on, guys, make this thing.’ I sang the ‘Dentist!’ song for my audition, and I got it on my phone. And I always think, ‘Is this crazy to post this?’”

“Little Shop… it hit the brakes for a minute, it had some budget issues,” the actor shared with ACE Universe. “When COVID hit, and all of a sudden budgets for films go through the roof trying to make it a safe place to go to work. So you know, the discussions stalled a bit, to the point that I was calling my team saying ‘Hey, what’s going on with Little Shop? What’s going on with Little Shop? Who do I have to talk to? What do I have to do?’”

Are you excited about Little Shop of Halloween Horrors? Tell us in the comments!