Another Stephen King classic is being adapted for the screen and has found its director.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate has acquired the rights to the 1979 Stephen King classic The Long Walk. JT Mollner (Strange Darling) has been tapped to write the script. It’s also been reported that director Francis Lawrence has been selected to direct the film. Lawrence recently completed The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes for Lionsgate as well as three previous Hunger Games films for the studio. According to Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Joe Drake; “We couldn’t be more excited about reuniting with him on The Long Walk. He is a truly unparalleled talent.”
The Long Walk is right up Lawrence’s alley as the story, originally published under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman, centers on an annual contest where 100 teen boys embark on a long journey where they are required to walk for a specific number of miles per hour and only one of them will survive. King’s book can definitely be felt in a lot of young adult post apocalyptic fiction including The Hunger Games franchise making Lawrence a great fit to take on the film.
Lawrence is also working on a sequel to Constantine which starred Keanu Reeves and has been attached to the Netflix produced live action adaptation of the video game Bioshock.