With IT and Stranger Things being such big hits for Warner Bros. and Netflix, it's no surprise that Sony wants to acquire their own coming-of-age horror story about a group of kids taking on a supernatural force. That's what the studio is doing by purchasing the film rights to Dan Simmons' novel SUMMER OF NIGHT.
The novel's description:
It's the summer of 1960 and in the small town of Elm Haven, Illinois, five twelve-year-old boys are forging the powerful bonds that a lifetime of change will not break. From sunset bike rides to shaded hiding places in the woods, the boys' days are marked by all of the secrets and silences of an idyllic middle-childhood. But amid the sundrenched cornfields their loyalty will be pitilessly tested. When a long-silent bell peals in the middle of the night, the townsfolk know it marks the end of their carefree days. From the depths of the Old Central School, a hulking fortress tinged with the mahogany scent of coffins, an invisible evil is rising. Strange and horrifying events begin to overtake everyday life, spreading terror through the once idyllic town. Determined to exorcize this ancient plague, Mike, Duane, Dale, Harlen, and Kevin must wage a war of blood against an arcane abomination who owns the night…
The SUMMER OF NIGHT screenplay adaptation has already been written by Ben Poole, and Isaac Ezban – who was at the helm of the horror/sci-fi film THE SIMILARS and contributed to the anthology MEXICO BARBARO – is attached to direct.
SUMMER OF NIGHT will be produced by Ehren Kruger and Daniel Bobker.
If this film is a hit for Sony, there's already a franchise ready to go here. Simmons' novel was the first in a series and was followed by Children of the Night and A Winter Haunting.