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James Wan is producing a feature-length adaptation of Stephen King's short story The Monkey with The White Lotus's Theo James set to star.
Per Deadline, Osgood Perkins has penned the script and will also direct.
The short story, which was nominated for a British Fantasy Award in 1982, follows two brothers, Peter and Dennis, who find a cymbal-banging monkey toy in the attic. The movie synopsis (which renames the brothers as Hal and Bill) sees the pair discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, starting a chain reaction of gruesome deaths.
Per Deadline, "The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them."
King wrote a similar story for The X-Files episode "Chinga," replacing the monkey toy with a cursed doll.
"Stephen King is the godfather of the horror genre," Wan said. "He had a huge influence on me as a child and throughout my career and it’s always been a dream to help bring one of his stories to life. The Monkey is a personal favorite, with its simple, iconic, and incredibly marketable conceit. And I can’t imagine anyone better than a visionary and lifelong genre fan like Osgood to bring this to life."
