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Neubauer Artists LLC
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With Neubauer Artists Neomax studios, Carrie is once again adapting a classic film and Stephen King novel into a series. Far from being an isolated case, this strategy has become one of the major trends in streaming.
Who today would dare claim that a film is the definitive version of a story? Certainly not the producers or the decision-makers at the streaming giants. They all now draw without the slightest hesitation from the heritage of cinema to create series capable of captivating subscribers for weeks, even years (the next HBO Harry Potter series is announced for ten years).
Drawing from this vast catalogue of big-screen material is nothing new: from MASH to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, by way of Fame or Planet of the Apes, traditional television has often used cinema as a source of stories. But the early 2010s, marked by the explosion of video on demand, represent a real turning point.
Today, we are far removed from the era of opportunistic spin-offs and insignificant derivative products. The stated ambition is to offer a second life – sometimes a third when it comes to rebooting a book that has already been adapted – to seminal works.
Why do platforms focus on already well-known brands?
The arrival of the Carrie series on Prime Video is the latest example. Others preceded it with varying degrees of success: Bates Motel brilliantly explored Norman Bates’ youth as a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho ; Hannibal revisited the fascinating world of The Silence of the Lambs ; From Dusk Till Dawn stretched out the delirious novel written by Quentin Tarantino in 1996 into a serial, while The Exorcist tried, with varying degrees of success, to extend the legacy of William Friedkin’s classic.
If this trend is accelerating now, it’s primarily due to a challenging economic climate. In today’s saturated market, where the cost of living is straining household budgets and the number of subscriptions is plateauing, acquiring and retaining new customers is crucial. For streaming giants, intellectual property already recognized by the general public is worth its weight in gold.
Cinema has thus become a form of comprehensive insurance: it no longer simply provides benchmark narratives, but above all, turnkey brands designed to secure investments. While a feature film can be watched in a couple of hours, an eight-episode season guarantees to retain the user for an extended period, thereby maximizing engagement on the platform.
Solution or dilution?
In terms of form, this transition is sometimes accompanied by a renewed artistic ambition. In recent years, a few directors have managed to transcend mere commercial commissions to deliver genuine reinterpretations. Mr. & Mrs. Smith traded the glamorous action of the original film for a biting romantic comedy starring Donald Glover. Ripley reinvented Patricia Highsmith’s novel as a sublime black-and-white psychological thriller. Fargo remains, without a doubt, the most striking success to date: rather than copying the Coen brothers’ masterpiece, Noah Hawley explored its absurd and ferocious spirit throughout a captivating anthology.
Far from waning, the phenomenon is about to enter a new phase. Studios are actively preparing several behemoths: Blade Runner 2099 is set to continue the dystopia initiated by Ridley Scott and continued by Denis Villeneuve, while Crystal Lake intends to explore the origins of the killer Jason Voorhees ( Friday the 13th ).
With each new announcement, it’s the same story: the serial format would finally offer the necessary space to develop character psychology, explore previously unexplored areas, and give the narrative unparalleled scope. The argument isn’t entirely without merit, even if a fundamental question remains: does artificially lengthening a story inherently make it better?
Carrie in the TikTok era
A Carrie of her time, where harassment goes viral and the nightmare is more tangible than ever.
Published in 1974, Carrie is one of Stephen King’s seminal novels. While Brian De Palma’s cult film (1976) remains unforgettable, the 2013 remake left a feeling of incompleteness. This new adaptation clearly changes that. The plot remains faithful to the original: at 15, Carrie White grows up isolated under the thumb of her fanatical mother, Margaret. After her father’s death, social services force her to attend high school. Different and adrift, she quickly becomes the target of cruel bullying, culminating in a harrowing scene in the showers. But the teenager soon discovers impressive telekinetic powers.
Read also”Carrie”: How Stephen King’s first novel became a feminist myth (and a pop culture landmark)
A more relevant contemporary reinterpretation than expected
At the helm, Mike Flanagan (Jessie, Doctor Sleep) once again confirms his affinity for King’s universe. His main achievement is grounding the story in the age of social media, where public humiliation and harassment take on devastating proportions. Above all, the writing avoids simplistic oppositions between victims and perpetrators: even the ruthless Chris gains depth here.
Admittedly, the story unfolds at a deliberate pace, with Carrie only coming to terms with her powers halfway through, and the ending is somewhat less impressive than the building tension that precedes it. However, driven by Summer H. Howell’s intense performance in the title role and Samantha Sloyan’s unsettling presence as a fanatical mother, alongside Alison Thornton and Matthew Lillard, this contemporary reimagining manages to transform the torments of adolescence into a genuine waking nightmare. A compelling and relevant adaptation.
