TV & Movies

A Poltergeist TV series is in development

Chris Tilly
Kid touches TV in Poltergeist.MGM

A new TV series based on the Poltergeist franchise is in development, with Amazon looking to revive the long-dead ghost story.

Poltergeist was little short of a horror phenomenon when it debuted in the summer of 1982. A haunted house tale, the film was written and produced by Steven Spielberg, and directed by Texas Chain Saw Massacre helmer Tobe Hooper.

The seriously scary movie quickly became a box office smash, earning more than $120 million from a $10 million budget. And becoming the eighth highest-grossing film of that year.

So it’s no surprise the film spawned sequels. A TV series also belatedly followed, as well as a star-studded, big-budget remake. Now, Poltergeist is heading to streaming…

A Poltergeist TV series is in development

According to a report on Variety, there’s a Poltergeist TV series in the works at Amazon MGM Studios.

No writer is currently attached to the project, but Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will executive produce on behalf of Amblin Television.

The horror show joins a raft of major IP that MGM is trying to reboot, including RoboCop, Barbershop, Legally Blonde, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

What is Poltergeist about?

Here’s the official synopsis for the original Poltergeist: “A typical family in a quiet suburb of a normal California faces a frightening ordeal when its home is invaded by a Poltergeist. Late one night, 10-year-old Carol Anne Freeling hears a voice coming from inside the television set…

“At first, the spirits that invade the Freelings’ home seem like playful children. But then they turn angry. And when Carol Anne is pulled from this world into another, Steve and Diane Freeling turn to an exorcist in this horror classic.”

Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams played the parents in that 1982 version, while Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt took on the roles in the poorly received 2015 remake.

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