Billy Summers, a best-selling book by Stephen King, is being turned into a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and J.J. Abrams attached. Billy Summers, a crime book the King of Horror created, centers on an aged assassin who accepts one final job before his intended retirement. Billy Summers was promptly picked up for a limited series by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot productions when it was published in 2021 and debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list. Billy Summers will soon be made into a significant motion picture.
Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has acquired the best-selling book and has decided it will work better as a feature film with J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way producing. This news comes almost one year after Billy Summers was said to be in development as a limited series. Depending on how the Billy Summers script, which Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz are writing, DiCaprio may play the title role, and Abrams may helm the picture.
Billy Summers, a feature film in its very early stages of development, is just one of many upcoming Stephen King adaptations, some of which will be released in 2023. The Boogeyman, whose first trailer just released and which will hit theatres on June 2, will serve as the starting point for this. This year should also see the debut of Gary Dauberman’s Salem’s Lot remake, whose release date has been moved around.
The latest merger with Showtime may affect the already scheduled release of an untitled Pet Semetary prequel through Paramount+. Three Stephen King movie adaptations—A Buick 8, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and The Long Walk—have spent years in the dreaded “development hell,” with George A. Romero previously linked. But since the director passed away in 2017, they haven’t made any progress. The limited series adaptation of 2021’s Later by Stephen King, with Lucy Liu as the lead, is currently in development. Following the unsuccessful film project, Mike Flanagan is working on a TV adaptation of Stephen King’s masterpiece, The Dark Tower, for Prime Video.
Billy Summers, which reportedly has an Oscar-winning star and a well-known director on board, has the potential to be the most eagerly awaited of all the Stephen King adaptations now in development. After Hulu’s 11.22.63, Hulu’s Castle Rock, and Apple TV’s Lisey’s Story, Billy Summers represents Bad Robot’s fourth collaboration with Stephen King. However, it would be the first time director J.J. Abrams would take the reins for a film adaptation of the renowned author’s writings. DiCaprio and Abrams are not a lock to appear in and direct Billy Summers, but it will greatly raise the project’s profile if they do.
