Universal Pictures has won an auction for Stephen King’s “The Tommyknockers,” which is being developed as a movie by producers James Wan and Roy Lee.
The deal closed Friday afternoon. Netflix and Sony were also bidding. Wan, who’s directing “Aquaman” and produces “The Conjuring” franchise, will produce through his Atomic Monster company. Lee, whose credits include “It,” the Lego movies, and “The Departed,” will produce through Vertigo Entertainment.
The duo has teamed up with Larry Sanitsky, who executive produced the 1993 ABC miniseries adaptation of “The Tommyknockers,” starring Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger.
The producers began shopping the package to studios through Paradigm earlier this month. “It is an allegorical tale of addiction (Stephen was struggling with his own at the time), the threat of nuclear power, the danger of mass hysteria, and the absurdity of technical evolution run amuck,” Sanitsky said. “All are as relevant today as the day the novel was written. It is also a tale about the eternal power of love and the grace of redemption.”