Dreamcatcher was Morgan Freeman’s return to Stephen King diversifications almost a decade after The Shawshank Redemption, however its failure set the creator again on the massive display screen for years. Stephen King movies turned a staple shortly after the runaway success of Brian De Palma’s fiery adaptation of Carrie in 1976.
King may have hated Kubrick’s The Shining, nevertheless it turned a basic in its personal proper. That 1980 horror epic then led to a wave of King diversifications all through the last decade, which continued into the Nineteen Nineties, too. Scarcely a yr went previous and not using a main new King movie or miniseries, however by the early 2000s, issues started to decelerate.
Motion pictures like Apt Pupil and Hearts in Atlantis got here and went with little fanfare, however Warner Bros had huge plans for King’s sci-fi horror story Dreamcatcher. This follows 4 childhood mates whose looking getaway is spoiled by the arrival of some pesky aliens.
Morgan Freeman’s Shawshank Redemption Comply with-Up Was A Bomb
Dreamcatcher is notable for being Timothy Olyphant’s only King movie, however its main promoting level was that Morgan Freeman was enjoying the villain. Freeman’s acclaimed flip in The Shawshank Redemption turned him into an A-list star, so his return to Stephen King land was huge information.
After all, Dreamcatcher is not any Shawshank Redemption, and Freeman’s efficiency because the homicidal Colonel Curtis completely lacks the heat and humanity of Crimson. In reality, Freeman would not have a lot screentime within the movie – and feels completely disengaged at any time when he does seem.
Regardless of having a fantastic solid and promising a mixture of Stand by Me and Aliens, Dreamcatcher was a monetary dud, grossing a shade over $81 million worldwide. That is round $152 million when adjusted for inflation, however contemplating it value about $70 million to provide, Warner Bros’ return on funding was fairly weak.
It did not assist that it acquired roundly poor critiques and sits at 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. King himself did not suppose a lot of Dreamcatcher both, however contemplating he would not just like the e-book – which was written in bodily agony as he recovered from his near-fatal 1999 accident – that is not a shock.
Dreamcatcher Flopping Led To A Stephen King Film Drought
Trying again on Dreamcatcher’s failure reveals some stark results. Lawrence Kasdan’s profession (The Large Chill) by no means fairly recovered, and he has solely helmed one movie since. There was a notable lack of King films within the aftermath of Dreamcatcher too, particularly in comparison with the years earlier than 2003.
The following King adaptation was Secret Window, and whereas this Johnny Depp thriller was an inexpensive success, it was truly shot earlier than Dreamcatcher hit screens. The following movie was Using the Bullet, which barely bought a launch and bombed, and there have been no new King diversifications on the massive display screen for 3 years.
There have been quite a few TV efforts like a 2004 adaptation of Salem’s Lot and The Useless Zone TV collection, however there was a common air of Stephen King fatigue. Possibly audiences and filmmakers had burned out on mediocre takes on the creator’s books, and a break was wanted.
It actually wasn’t till the large success of IT: Chapter One in 2017 that audiences and critics bought again on board the King film prepare. Within the aftermath, there have been a number of diversifications, together with Physician Sleep, Pet Sematary, The Boogeyman and plenty of extra. In 2025 alone, there can be takes on the creator’s The Operating Man and The Lengthy Stroll.
Morgan Freeman Mentioned “What The F*** Was That?” After Studying Dreamcatcher’s Script
Thomas Jane is the unofficial lead of Dreamcatcher, along with his troubled therapist character being the one who has to avoid wasting the day. Throughout an episode of The Kingcast podcast, Jane opened up in regards to the time he, Freeman and the solid learn the screenplay from starting to finish. In keeping with Jane, Freeman was not fully impressed.
Larry [Kasdan] needed to have a stage studying the place all the actors bought collectively and all of us sat round in just a little room on the lodge and we learn the script. And there is Morgan Freeman, and [Tom] Sizemore, and [Timothy] Olyphant, and [Damian] Lewis, and we’re studying this factor, you realize, actors in a room with a director learn the story. And we learn the entire rattling factor from starting to finish, it takes longer studying for some purpose, it took us like 3 hours. And on the finish of it, lastly, we end the rattling factor. Morgan Freeman closes his script and goes, “What the f*** was that?”
Presumably, Freeman had learn Dreamcatcher’s screenplay earlier than signing on, however he clearly wasn’t happy when he heard it learn aloud. This will likely account for why the veteran star feels so aloof within the ultimate product, and conveys little of the menace that Curtis is meant to; his bushy eyebrows are distracting too.
Dreamcatcher Deserves One other Likelihood At An Adaptation
Dreamcatcher was penned by King with assistance from painkillers and is an overlong, messy novel. The film inherited a lot of the identical faults, leaping from intimate drama to gross-out physique horror to scenes of army choppers blasting aliens with little sense of tempo or tone.
For the problems of each the supply materials and the movie, there’s a good adaptation to be made out of Dreamcatcher. Like each King novel, it is affected by artistic ideas and terrifying scenes. A spotlight of the 2003 movie is the lavatory scene, the place one of many protagonists is trapped in a rest room with an alien snake.
Dreamcatcher’s toilet setpiece is humorous, disgusting and scary on the similar time, and the relationships between the 4 mates within the story are genuinely shifting. There’s additionally an prolonged passage the place Dreamcatcher’s hero Jonesy is trapped in his personal reminiscence palace by the alien possessing his physique.
Over 20 years have handed because the first tackle this story and a contemporary director (like Osgood Perkins or Mike Flanagan) might pare down the sprawling e-book and make a tense horror trip. Since just about every thing penned by King is being remade, it might be impolite to miss Dreamcatcher.
Supply: Field Workplace Mojo, Rotten Tomatoes, The Kingcast
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September 21, 1947
- Birthplace
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- Notable Tasks
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Portland, Maine, USA
6 toes 4 inches
The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, It, The Stand, Distress, The Darkish Tower, Mr. Mercedes, Carrie
Writer, Screenwriter, Producer, Director, Actor
Uncover the newest information and filmography for Stephen King, identified for The Darkish Tower collection, The Stand, IT, The Shining, Carrie, Cujo, Distress, the Invoice Hodges trilogy, and extra.
