''Firestarter'' is a 2022 American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by Keith Thomas, from a screenplay by

Scott Teems Scott Teems is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on '' That Evening Sun'' (2009), '' The Quarry'' (2020), '' Halloween Kills'' (2021), '' Firestarter'' (2022) and '' Insidious: The Red Door'' (2023). ...

, based on

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

's novel of the same name, and a remake of the 1984 film of the same name. The film stars

Zac Efron Zachary David Alexander Efron (; born October 18, 1987) is an American actor. Efron began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence as a teen idol for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the ''High School Musical'' film ...

, Ryan Kiera Armstrong,

Sydney Lemmon Sydney Noël Lemmon (born August 10, 1990) is an American actress. She studied acting at Yale University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She is known for her roles on stage and screen. She made her acting debut as an understud ...

Kurtwood Smith Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American actor. He is known for playing Clarence Boddicker in ''RoboCop'' (1987), Robert Griggs in '' Rambo III'' (1988), and Red Forman in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) and '' That '90s Show' ...

, John Beasley (in his final film role),

Michael Greyeyes Michael Greyeyes (born June 4, 1967) is a First Nations ( Muskeg Lake Cree Nation) actor, dancer, choreographer, director, and educator. In 1996, Greyeyes portrayed Crazy Horse in the television film ''Crazy Horse''. In 2018, Greyeyes portrayed ...

, and

Gloria Reuben Gloria Elizabeth Reuben (born June 9, 1964) is a Canadian-American actress, producer, and singer. She is well-known for her role as Jeanie Boulet on the medical drama '' ER'' (1995–1999, 2008), for which she was twice nominated for an Emmy Aw ...

. It is produced by

Jason Blum Jason Ferus Blum (; born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, best known for horror franchises such as ''Paranormal Activity (film series), Paranormal Activity'' (2007–2021), ''Insidi ...

and

Akiva Goldsman Akiva Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes ''The Client (1994 film), The Client''; ''Batman Forever'' and its sequel ''Batman & Robin (film), Batman ...

under their

Blumhouse Productions Blumhouse Productions, LLC, doing business as Blumhouse (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH), is an American independent film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum and Amy Israel. Blumhouse is known mainly fo ...

and Weed Road Pictures banners, respectively, alongside BoulderLight Pictures and Night Platform. ''Firestarter'' was released in the United States on May 13, 2022, by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

simultaneously theatrically and through

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

. The film was panned by critics and audiences, with many deeming it to be inferior to the original 1984 film, and grossed $15 million worldwide against a $12 million budget. Armstrong was nominated for the

Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress Razzie Award for Worst Actress is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst actress of the previous year. Male actors performing in drag are eligible, as it is intended as a humorous award. The following is a list ...

, but it was rescinded due to controversy over her young age.

Plot

In a flashback, baby Charlene "Charlie" McGee sits in her crib, spontaneously setting the room ablaze with her

pyrokinesis Pyrokinesis is a List of psychic abilities, psychic ability allowing a person to create and control fire with the mind. As with other parapsychological phenomena, there is no conclusive evidence in support of the actual existence of pyrokinesis. ...

power and sending her father Andrew "Andy" McGee into a panic. In another flashback, a young Andy and his girlfriend Victoria "Vicky" Tomlinson talk to a doctor in a clinical trial, who explains to them that they will be injected with the experimental chemical drug Lot-6, which secretly gives them

supernatural powers Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanings since the an ...

: Andy gains

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

, and Vicky gains

telekinesis Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...

. In the present day, Charlie is sitting at the kitchen table after having a nightmare. Her parents join her and Charlie explains that she has been repressing something bad, her powers becoming more unstable. She unintentionally causes a ruckus at her school after exploding a bathroom stall due to anger at being bullied. Andy is shown using his power, "the push", to influence a client to stop smoking, although the strain causes his eyes to bleed. Meanwhile, in a secret facility, Captain Jane Hollister, leader of the Department of Scientific Intelligence (DSI), is monitoring thermal signatures caused by Charlie's outbursts. She visits Doctor Joseph Wanless, creator of Lot-6 and the resulting superhumans, who implores Hollister to terminate Charlie before her powers become uncontrollable. Hollister enlists fellow superhuman John Rainbird to assist her. Rainbird visits the McGee home, confronting Vicky, who attempts to counterattack with her repressed telekinetic powers. Rainbird kills her, holding Charlie at knifepoint as she and Andy enter the home. Charlie's powers overwhelm him and she sends a concussive burst of flames throughout the house. Andy and Charlie escape into their truck. On the road, they encounter a man named Irv Manders. After using the push to convince Irv to take them to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, they hitch a ride with him, stopping off at his house. After Charlie accidentally stumbles upon his paralyzed wife, Irv flies into a rage before conceding that he occasionally overreacts. Irv sits up all night watching a news report of the incident at the McGee home, which is being framed as murder by Andy. Irv and Andy argue before Andy explains to Irv that he is just trying to protect his daughter. Charlie tells Irv, after speaking telepathically with his wife, that she forgives him for the accident that left her paralyzed, causing him to relent and attempt to protect Andy and Charlie when the police appear due to his prior emergency call. Rainbird appears in the bushes, kills the policemen, and then shoots Irv in the knee before black trucks roll in to pick up Charlie and Andy. Andy uses his push to trick Rainbird so Charlie can escape to a forest. Charlie spends time honing her fire powers before stealing a bike and clothes to follow her father's telepathic message to her from his cell at DSI. Charlie finds DSI and takes an agent's pass card from him, then kills him after he draws his gun to attack her. She follows a large staircase down to the restricted area where her father is being kept. She reaches her father's glass-fronted cell, from inside which Hollister tells her not to try and burn her, lest she burn her father in the process. Andy tells Charlie that Rainbird, not he, telepathically called for her. Seeing no other way out, and knowing that he will die soon, he apologizes to her and then pushes her to burn the entire place down, starting with Hollister and himself. The now-rogue Charlie sets both on fire, mentally unlocks all the security doors, and walks through the facility killing all of the DSI agents. Rainbird is released when his holding cell is unlocked. Charlie is surrounded by men in

hazmat Hazmat, HazMat or HAZMAT may refer to: * Dangerous goods, hazardous materials and items * Hazmat suit * Hazmat diving * Hazmat (comics) is a Marvel Comics character * ''HazMat'' (film), a 2013 horror film See also * Hazmat Modine Hazmat Mo ...

suits, unable to harm them. The men are about to subdue her when Rainbird shoots them from behind. He surrenders to Charlie and kneels for her judgment. Charlie starts to kill him but sees herself in the mirror and, realizing that he is just as much of a pawn as her, she spares him, before finally burning the rest of the building down. Later, Charlie is seen walking onto a beach with Rainbird following behind. With nowhere to go, Charlie allows Rainbird to carry her, and they walk off together into the night.

Cast

as Andrew "Andy" McGee, Charlie's

telepathic Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

father * Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Charlene "Charlie" McGee, a troubled girl struggling with anger issues and mood swings mostly due to her

. She is the daughter of Andy and Vicky McGee. *

as Victoria "Vicky" Tomlinson-McGee, Andy's

telekinetic Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...

wife and Charlie's mother. *

as Dr. Joseph Wanless * John Beasley as Irv Manders *

as John Rainbird, a bounty hunter assigned by DSI to track down Charlie. *

as Captain Jane Hollister, the leader of DSI and a gender-swapped version of James Hollister from the original film.

Production

On April 27, 2017,

and

announced a remake of '' Firestarter'' (1984), with

set to direct and produce alongside

. On June 28, 2018,

Fatih Akin Fatih Akin (, born 25 August 1973) is a Turkish-German film director, screenwriter and producer. His films have won numerous awards and accolades, including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his film '' Head-On'' (2004), Best Scre ...

replaced Goldsman as director, with

set to write the script. On December 16, 2019, Keith Thomas replaced Akin as director. In September 2020,

joined the cast. In February 2021,

joined the cast. In June 2021, Ryan Kiera Armstrong,

, and

were added to the cast.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began on May 25, 2021, in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

, and

wrap Wrap, WRAP or Wrapped may refer to: Storage and preservation * Gift wrap or wrap paper, used to enclose a present * Overwrap, a wrapping of items in a package or a wrapping over packages * Plastic wrap, a thin, clear, flexible plastic used to co ...

ped on July 16.

Soundtrack

Release

''Firestarter'' was released in wide theaters by

and on

in the United States on May 13, 2022. Over its first week of streaming, the film was watched in two million households.

Home media

The film was released on VOD on June 12, 2022, and then on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on June 28, 2022, 45 days after its theatrical release.

Reception

Box office

''Firestarter'' grossed $9.7million in the United States and Canada and $5.3million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $15million. In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside ''

Family Camp ' is a 2022 American religious comedy film directed by Brian Cates and written by Cates and Rene Gutteridge. The film stars Tommy Woodard, Eddie James, Leigh-Allyn Baker, Elias Kemuel, and Gigi Orsillo, and follows two polar-opposite families w ...

'', and was projected to gross $5–7 million from 3,412 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1.54 million on its first day, including $375,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $3.8 million, finishing fourth at the box office. The film made $2 million in its second weekend. It dropped out of the box office top ten in its third weekend with $285,270, and returned in its fifth weekend once put in a

drive-in theater A drive-in theater/theatre or drive-in cinema is a form of movie theater, cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, c ...

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

with ''

Jurassic World Dominion ''Jurassic World Dominion'' is a 2022 American Science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Colin Trevorrow, who co-wrote the screenplay with Emily Carmichael (filmmaker), Emily Carmichael from a story by Derek Connolly and Tre ...

'', earning $833,340, only to fall once again in its sixth with $182,365. Outside the US and Canada, the film earned $2.1 million from 40 markets in its opening weekend. It made $833,000 from 46 markets in its second weekend.

Critical response

Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale, while

PostTrak PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios. History The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a fil ...

reported 50% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 27% saying they would definitely recommend it. On

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

, Jeffrey Anderson gave it a 1/5 rating, stating, "Thoroughly bland and uninspired, this cheap-looking adaptation of Stephen King's 1980 novel just goes through the motions, failing to deliver any thrills or scares and feeling utterly pointless." Benjamin Lee of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' also gave it 1/5 stars, writing, "No one here seems to know what they're doing and, more importantly, why. A strong contender for 2022's most pointless movie."

Frank Scheck Frank Scheck is an American film critic. He is best known for his reviews in the ''New York Post'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. He formerly edited ''STAGES Magazine'' and worked as a theater critic for the ''Christian Science Monitor ''Th ...

of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote, "while it has a few genuine scares... it never achieves the deliriously freaky heights one expects from a film version of one of King's cheesier novels."

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American writer. He is a former columnist and film critic for the '' Chicago Sun-Times'', where he wrote for 39 years dating back to 1986 until his departure in 2025. He co-hosted the television s ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave it 3/4 stars, calling it "A combustible supernatural thriller that embraces its borderline campy qualities and works well enough as 21st century drive-in escapist fare."

Future

In May 2022, Thomas stated that there are ongoing discussions to possibly expand the film into a franchise, acknowledging that this may be in the form of

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

, or spin-off media.

References

External links

*
''Firestarter''
on

* {{Portal bar, United States, Film, Speculative fiction, Science fiction, Horror 2022 science fiction horror films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films American science fiction horror films Blumhouse Productions films Films about psychic powers Films based on works by Stephen King Films directed by Keith Thomas Films produced by Akiva Goldsman Films produced by Jason Blum Films scored by Cody Carpenter Films scored by Daniel Davies (musician) Films scored by John Carpenter Films set in Connecticut Films shot in Hamilton, Ontario Films shot in Toronto Films with screenplays by Scott Teems Firestarter (franchise) Horror film remakes Remakes of American films Reboot films Science fiction film remakes Universal Pictures films Advertising and marketing controversies in film Casting controversies in film English-language science fiction horror films