Universal and Robert Zemeckis hire a new Demonologist writer

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

It was in August of last year that we updated you on the status of Universal’s THE DEMONOLOGIST, the film adaptation of Andrew Pyper’s novel of the same name. At the time the studio had tapped Pulitzer Prize winning writer Robert Schenkkan to pen the screenplay for the movie, and that was the last we heard of it. Now, over a year later, Universal and producer Robert Zemeckis have passed the gig on to a new writer.

According to Hollywood Reporter, Jonathan Herman has now been given the task of adapting THE DEMONOLOGIST. Herman has many projects in development at the moment, including an action movie set up with Joel Silver. He was also one of the many writers who toiled on the screenplay for THE BIRDS remake.

In short, THE DEMONOLOGIST is about…

a Columbia University professor who specializes in demonic literature but himself is a profound skeptic of the occult. But when his 12-year-old daughter winds up in the grip of the actual underworld, he must use his expertise in the signs and symbols of Milton’s Paradise Lost as a guide to rescue her.