Firestarter (2022 film)

Firestarter (2022 film)
A young girl stares forward with an angered expression, as fire rages behind her. Release poster
Directed by	Keith Thomas
Produced by	Jason Blum Akiva Goldsman
Screenplay by	Scott Teems
Based on	Firestarter by Stephen King
Starring	Zac Efron Ryan Kiera Armstrong Sydney Lemmon Kurtwood Smith John Beasley Michael Greyeyes Gloria Reuben
Music by	John Carpenter Cody Carpenter Daniel Davies
Cinematography	Karim Hussain
Edited by	Tim Alverson
Production company	Blumhouse Productions Weed Road Pictures BoulderLight Pictures Night Platform
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	May 13, 2022 (2022-05-13) (United States)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$15 million

Firestarter is a 2022 American science fiction horror film directed by Keith Thomas, from a screenplay by Scott Teems, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King and serving as a remake of the 1984 film adaptation. The film stars Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, Michael Greyeyes, and Gloria Reuben. It is produced by Jason Blum and Akiva Goldsman under their Blumhouse Productions and Weed Road Pictures banners, respectively, alongside BoulderLight Pictures and Night Platform.

Firestarter was released in the United States on May 13, 2022, by Universal Pictures simultaneously theatrically and through streaming on Peacock. The film received negative reviews from critics, with many deeming it to be inferior to the original 1984 film, and grossed $15 million worldwide against a $12 million budget, making it a box office failure.

Plot

In a flashback, baby Charlene "Charlie" McGee sits in her crib, spontaneously setting the room ablaze with her pyrokinesis power and sending her father Andrew "Andy" McGee into a panic. In another flashback, a young Andy and his girlfriend Victoria "Vicky" Tomlinson talk to a doctor in a clinical trial, who explains to them that they will be injected with the experimental chemical drug Lot-6, which secretly gives them supernatural powers: Andy gains telepathy, and Vicky obtains telekinesis.

In the present day, Charlie is sitting at the kitchen table after having a nightmare. Her parents join her and Charlie explains that she has been repressing something bad, her powers becoming more unstable. She unintentionally causes a ruckus at her school after exploding a bathroom stall due to anger at being bullied. Andy is shown using his power, "the push", to influence a client to stop smoking, although the strain causes his eyes to bleed.

Meanwhile, in a secret facility, Captain Jane Hollister, leader of the DSI, is monitoring thermal signatures caused by Charlie's outbursts. She visits Doctor Joseph Wanless, creator of Lot-6 and the resulting superhumans, who implores Hollister to terminate Charlie before her powers become uncontrollable. Hollister enlists fellow superhuman John Rainbird to assist her. Rainbird visits the McGee home, confronting Vicky who attempts to counterattack with her repressed telekinetic powers. Rainbird overpowers and kills her, holding Charlie at knifepoint as she and Andy enter the home. Charlie's powers overwhelm him and she sends a concussive burst of flames throughout the house. Andy and Charlie escape into their truck.

On the road, they encounter a man named Irv. After using the push to convince Irv to take them to Boston, they hitch a ride with him, stopping off at his house. After Charlie accidentally stumbles upon his paralyzed wife, Irv flies into a rage before conceding that he occasionally overreacts. Irv sits up all night watching a news report of the incident at the McGee home, which is being framed as murder by Andy. Irv and Andy argue before Andy explains to Irv that he is just trying to protect his daughter. Charlie tells Irv, after speaking telepathically with his wife, that she forgives him for the accident that left her paralysed, causing him to relent and attempt to protect Andy and Charlie when the police appear due to his prior emergency call. Rainbird appears in the bushes, kills the policemen, and then shoots Irv in the knee before black trucks roll in to pick up Charlie and Andy. Andy uses his push one last time to trick Rainbird so Charlie can escape to a forest. Charlie spends time honing her fire powers before stealing a bike and clothes to follow her father's telepathic message to her from his cell at DSI.

Charlie finds DSI and takes an agent's pass card from him. He pleads for her not to kill him and tells her he doesn't have a gun. She kills him after he draws the gun to attack her. She follows a large staircase down to the restricted area where her father is being kept. She reaches her father's glass-fronted cell, from inside which Captain Hollister tells her not to try and burn her, lest she burns her father in the process. Andy tells Charlie that Rainbird, not he, telepathically called for her. Seeing no other way out, he apologizes to her and then mentally pushes her to burn the entire place down, starting with Hollister and himself. The now-rogue Charlie sets both on fire, mentally unlocks all the security doors, and walks through the facility killing everyone. Rainbird is released when his holding cell is unlocked. Charlie is captured by men in fire suits, unable to harm them. The men are about to subdue her when Rainbird shoots them from behind. He surrenders to Charlie and kneels for her judgment. Charlie starts to kill him but sees herself in the mirror and, realizing that the DSI is also controlling him, she spares him, before finally burning the rest of the building down. Lastly, Charlie is seen walking onto a beach with Rainbird following behind. Knowing that she and Rainbird are now alone in the world, Charlie allows Rainbird to carry her, and they walk off together into the night.

Cast

• Zac Efron as Andrew "Andy" McGee, Charlie's telepathic father
• Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Charlene "Charlie" McGee, an 11-year-old troubled girl struggling with anger issues and mood swings mostly due to her pyrokinesis. She is the daughter of Andy and Vicky McGee.
• Sydney Lemmon as Victoria "Vicky" Tomlinson-McGee, Andy's telekinetic wife and Charlie's mother.
• Kurtwood Smith as Dr. Joseph Wanless
• John Beasley as Irv Manders
• Michael Greyeyes as John Rainbird, a bounty hunter assigned by DSI to track down Charlie.
• Gloria Reuben as Captain Jane Hollister, the leader of DSI and a gender-swapped version of James Hollister from the original film.

Production

On April 27, 2017, Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions announced a remake of Firestarter (1984), with Akiva Goldsman set to direct and produce alongside Jason Blum. On June 28, 2018, Fatih Akin replaced Goldsman as director, with Scott Teems set to write the script. On December 16, 2019, Keith Thomas replaced Akin as director. In September 2020, Zac Efron joined the cast. In February 2021, Michael Greyeyes joined the cast. In June 2021, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Gloria Reuben, and Sydney Lemmon were added to the cast. Principal photography began on May 25, 2021, in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, and wrapped on July 16.

The score was composed by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies, who previously collaborated with Blumhouse on Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills (2021). The score was digitally released on May 13, 2022, by Back Lot Music and on LP/CD and Cassette in October by Sacred Bones Records.

Release

Firestarter was released in wide theaters by Universal Pictures and on Peacock in the United States on May 13, 2022.

Home media

It was released on Video on demand on June 12, 2022, and then on DVD on June 28, 2022, 45 days after its theatrical release. On September 13, 2022, the film was removed from Peacock as its first four-month window expired. It was released on Amazon Prime on the night of September 22, 2022 and will be removed on July 22, 2023 after ten months, and it will then return to Peacock for four months likely a week after being removed from Amazon.

Reception

Box office

Firestarter has grossed $9.6 million in the United States and Canada and $5.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $15 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Family Camp, and was projected to gross $5–7 million from 3,412 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1.54 million on its first day, including $375,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $3.8 million, finishing fourth at the box office. The film made $2 million in its second weekend. It dropped out of the box office top ten in its third weekend with $285,270, and returned in its fifth weekend once put in a drive-in theater double feature with Jurassic World Dominion, earning $833,340, only to fall once again in its sixth with $182,365.

Outside the US and Canada, the film earned $2.1 million from 40 markets in its opening weekend. It made $833,000 from 46 markets in its second weekend.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 10% of 155 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "There was plenty of room to improve on the original, but Firestarter trips over that low bar and tumbles toward the bottom of the long list of Stephen King adaptations." {{{1}}} was met with {{{2}}} reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of {{{3}}}, based on {{{4}}} reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C–" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 50% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 27% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Future

In May 2022, Thomas stated that there are ongoing discussions to possibly expand the film into a franchise, acknowledging that this may be in the form of sequel, prequel, or spin-off media.

External links

• Official website
• Firestarter on Peacock
• Firestarter at IMDb