Mike Flanagan in talks to adapt Joe Hill’s Snapshot 1988

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

While working on getting an adaptation of Stephen King's novel GERALD'S GAME set up at Netflix, Mike Flanagan – whose movie HUSH was praised by King when it was released on Netflix earlier this year – may also be about to delve into material written by King's son Joe Hill.

Universal Pictures, the studio behind Flanagan's upcoming film OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL, has picked up the rights to Hill's novella SNAPSHOT 1988 and are in talks with Flanagan and his OCULUS / BEFORE I WAKE co-writer Jeff Howard to pen the adaptation.

The success Netflix had with their series Stranger Things is believed to be behind the bidding war that SNAPSHOT 1988 ignited, as the story is said to have a tone similar to Stranger Things and its 1980s Amblin movie vibe. The novella, which isn't even expected to be published until the spring of 2018, is set in 1988 and 

centers on a 13-year old boy who ends up taking care of his elderly former housekeeper whom he thinks is succumbing to dementia. What he doesn’t know is that her memories are not being lost but stolen by an evil man named The Phoenician who uses a camera that steals memories.

SNAPSHOT 1988 will be produced by Weed Road and Blumhouse, with Greg Lessans executive producing.

Universal won the SNAPSHOT 1988 rights by outbidding Fox, who wanted to secure the property for CLOVERFIELD / LET ME IN / DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES director Matt Reeves.

HUSH