The Blob
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Chuck Russell
Screenwriter: Chuck Russell, Frank Darabont
Cast: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Candy Clark, Joe Seneca
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated R | 95 Minutes
Release Date: October 29, 2019

Co-written and directed by Chuck Russell (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), 1988’s The Blob is a remake of Irvin Yeaworth’s 1958’s drive-in classic. And, like Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), and David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986), it’s the rare remake that stands on its own while improving upon its source material in the process.

Back in June, it was announced that Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) would direct The Huntsman, Universal’s planned follow-up to their 2012 feature Snow White and The Huntsman, which starred Kristen Stewart (Twilight) as Snow White, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as Eric aka The Huntsman, and Charlize Theron as the evil Queen Ravenna.

Now, the filmmaker reportedly “abruptly left” the project last week, according to The Wrap, which adds that a new director is expected to be hired this week. Darabont, who served as showrunner for Season 1 of the AMC television series The Walking Dead before he was reportedly fired from the show, exited The Huntsman because of “creative differences,” Universal told to The Wrap.

Recently we found out that Frank Darabont was on the shortlist of potential directors for Snow White and the Huntsman 2, the follow-up to 2012’s re-imagining of the fairy tale that starred Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, and Charlize Theron, and was directed by Rupert Sanders.

The news that Darabont was a candidate seemed odd. Why would the director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, and the TV series creator of AMC’s The Walking Dead, be interested in making not only a sequel to a movie he wasn’t involved in, but a sequel to a movie that also received mediocre critical response (48% on Rotten Tomatoes, 6.2/10 on IMDB)?

But it appears that the interest is real and something about the project has appealed to Darabont, as it is now being reported that he’s officially in talks to direct Snow White and the Huntsman 2.

According to Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr., Universal Pictures is scouting for potential directors to take on the sequel to the 2012 fantasy-adventure Snow White and the Huntsman, and so far their shortlist of hoped-for helmers includes Gavin O’Connor (Warrior), Andy Muschietti (Mama), and most interestingly, Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption).

Darabont has been working mostly in television since the release of his last feature directorial effort, 2007’s Stephen King adaptation The Mist. He was the initial show-runner for AMC’s smashing success The Walking Dead until he and the network went through a nasty split during production on the series’ second season in 2011. Most recently he created the TNT crime series Mob City, which was cancelled after one low-rated season, and performed an uncredited rewrite on Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.

Fans of Frank Darabont‘s TV follow-up to The Walking Dead, Mob City, will be saddened to learn that a second season is not on the way.

TNT has decided not to continue with the show, which premiered this past December as an event series with three two-episode installments equaling out to a six-hour debut season. While it looked excellent, the show simply did not deliver the numbers and attention to win additional episodes.