Given the lackluster start for the Firestarter remake at the box office over the weekend, a sequel may not be in the cards. Even with a modest $12 million budget, its $3.8 million debut isn’t what a franchise is built on. We’re still awaiting stats from its performance via streaming on Peacock and if those are phenomenal and suitable for the studio, we at least know what director Keith Thomas teases could happen if a sequel is able to be made.
Thomas spoke on Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew Podcast this week and revealed that there is an Easter Egg in the film that teases where a potential sequel could go with the surviving characters of the Stephen King adaptation:
“This is something that we’ve discussed, obviously a bunch. I spent a lot of time with Michael Greyeyes, who plays Rainbird, talking about the Rainbird that we see in this film. He and I really wanted to create a true backstory for him, that explains what we see of him and how he functions… that we didn’t have to dump a bunch of exposition into. To suggest a whole history. And that history also involved a future.”
Thomas went on to say, “What’s interesting is… without giving away any spoilers… in the sequence of Rainbird’s apartment… there’s a drawing board that’s set up where he’s got all these sketches that he’s drawn. If you were to freeze frame on that drawing board, you would see the rest of the film. And images from it. So it’s clear that there’s a lot of suggestion here [about] what Rainbird’s up to and capable of. And in order to get that right, we had to figure out… where does this story go after this Firestarter?”
Firestarter is based on the novel by Stephen King of the same name and is also a remake of the 1984 film adaptation. In the movie, a young girl tries to understand how she mysteriously gained the ability to set things on fire with her mind. The film stars Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, Michael Greyeyes, and Gloria Reuben and it was produced by Jason Blum and Akiva Goldsman under their Blumhouse Productions and Weed Road Pictures banners, respectively. Reviews weren’t kind to Firestarter as it scored a dismal 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and moviegoers didn’t seem that impressed either, giving the film a “C-” CinemaScore after its opening day. A sequel happening would have to be based solely on its Peacock performance and it’s going to have to be significant to go down this road again.
Do YOU want a sequel to Firestarter?