Zemeckis to direct remake of The Witches, Del Toro and Cuaron producing

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It's been nine and a half years since it was first announced that filmmakers Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron would be collaborating on a new adaptation of the 1973 Roald Dahl novel THE WITCHES, a book which was previously turned into a nightmare-inducing children's movie by Nicolas Roeg back in 1990. The plan in 2008 was for Del Toro to write and direct the adaptation with Cuaron producing, but since the project has been languishing on Del Toro's long list of "movies to get to" ever since, the plan has now changed.

Del Toro and Cuaron will be producing a new take on THE WITCHES, with Robert Zemeckis signed on to write and direct the film. Zemeckis's producing partner Jack Rapke will also be producing through their company ImageMovers.

The story of THE WITCHES follows 

a seven-year-old boy who has a run in with real-life witches. 

While Roeg's film was a loose adaptation of the novel, the plan is for Zemeckis's version to stick closer to the source material.

This is a pretty exciting project, as the trio of Zemeckis, Del Toro, and Cuaron is one hell of a good creative team for a movie to have behind it. Take into account that they'll be bring Roald Dahl-created witches to the screen and it gets even better.

Zemeckis's previous directorial credits include USED CARS, ROMANCING THE STONE, the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, DEATH BECOMES HER, FORREST GUMP, WHAT LIES BENEATH, CAST AWAY, and BEOWULF.