‘The Shining’ sequel has been cancelled due to ‘Doctor Sleep’ flop
Mike Flanagan, the creative mind behind popular horror shows such as The Haunting of Hill House, was set to work on a brand new sequel based on Stephen King’s The Shining. However, according to the latest reports, the project has been cancelled.
In 2019, Flanagan directed his first sequel to The Shining in the form of Doctor Sleep which skipped several decades ahead and focused on Jack’s son Danny. Although the film received positive reviews and generated $72.3 million, it was written off as a commercial failure because other Stephen King adaptations generated a lot more money.
“I saw the film before I ever read the book, and I was already very much a constant reader — I was collecting and immersing myself in Stephen King’s work,” Flanagan revealed in an interview. “When I saw The Shining, it showed me what was possible with a psychological thriller, and what tension in a movie could be.”
While talking about Doctor Sleep, the director added: “I loved that The Shining, in my eyes, was a story of addiction and what it can do to a family. But Doctor Sleep was the story of recovery, reflection and time, looking back at the damage and trauma of addiction decades later, especially through the lens of a child of an addict.”
Due to the relative financial failure of Doctor Sleep, Flanagan’s new sequel to The Shining has been scrapped. “We were so close,” Flanagan revealed on Twitter. “I’ll always regret this didn’t happen. Warner Bros. opted not to proceed with it. They control the rights, so that was that.”
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