‘Pet Sematary’ Adaptation Gets New Release Date

The phrase “release date change” can often make fans nervous, yet in the case of the upcoming Pet Sematary adaptation, fans have reason to celebrate. The film has been moved up by two weeks and will hit theaters on April 5, 2019.

In Stephen King’s original novel, a family moves to a small town in Maine and discovers a pet cemetery across the street, with a local resident claiming that animals buried nearby have been known to come back to life. Following a tragic accident in which a toddler dies, the father buries his son at this supernatural location in hopes of his little boy returning to the family.

The film was previously adapted into a film in 1989, with the success of 2017’s IT proving that a new version of a King story can still be a massive draw at the box office.

Earlier this month, John Lithgow was announced as playing Jud Crandall, with reports claiming that Jason Clarke would play the patriarch of the family.

The film’s writer, Jeff Buhler, recently made a bold claim about the final product, teasing it could be the most horrifying adaptation of a Stephen King story to date.

“I will say this, if you love the book, you’ll love this movie,” Buhler shared with Dread Central. “[Directors] Dennis [Widmyer] and Kevin [Kolsch] are both such visionaries in terms of how they’ve approached it, from not only a horror standpoint but also a character standpoint, and it’s been really gratifying to work with those guys. I think we’re on track to it make one of the scariest Stephen King adaptations ever! That’s our goal anyway.”

The writer also revealed that his personal life meant the story had a much bigger impact on him.

“As a father of a five-year-old and a nine-year-old, I really connected to this story of grief and loss and what it could do to a family in a different way, in that, how far would a parent go to return to their life prior to a tragic event?” Buhler noted. “All of that feels so poignant and universal. It’s our desire to really reconnect to those elements of the story and bring them into a world that speaks to the modern horror audience.”

King fans will also get to see IT: Chapter Two in 2019, which has a September 7th release date, while Doctor Sleep, an adaptation of the sequel to The Shining, hits theaters on January 24, 2020 and a new version of The Tommyknockers debuts in 2020.

Check out Pet Sematary when it hits theaters on April 5, 2019.

Are you looking forward to this new version of the story? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T Deadline]