Black Phone and Sinister director’s planned Stephen King adaptation is officially ‘dead’

The adaptation was in the works for years.

JOE caught up with the filmmaker to discuss the brilliant trailer for his next horror movie, Black Phone 2, which you can watch below:

The sequel sees teenager Finney (Mason Thames) targeted by the serial killer The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), this time from beyond the grave...

Derrickson gave JOE the inside scoop on Black Phone 2, and you can read his comments about the follow-up here.

During the conversation, we also asked the director about what he plans to make next.

The filmmaker has previously been associated with two projects that we were particularly interested in. These are an adaptation of King's The Breathing Method, as well as The Handover - a mysterious script he co-wrote alongside Nobody 2 director Timo Tjahjanto.

Appearing in King's Different Seasons collection alongside the stories Apt Pupil; The Body; and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption - the three of which got famous film versions - The Breathing Method centres around a pregnant woman in the '30s.

This is as she goes to extreme lengths to ensure the successful birth of her child.

Derrickson was first announced as being attached to direct the project in 2012, working from a script by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills).

In 2022, the director told Cinemablend he still hoped that The Breathing Method would eventually be made into a movie. That said, a year later, he told the same outlet he was no longer involved with the project, citing issues with rights as a reason for this.

When speaking with Derrickson, we asked if either The Handover or a return to The Breathing Method could be his next film.

In response, he said:

"Well, The Handover is Timo [Tjahjanto's] movie, the director. I wrote the script with [C. Robert] Cargill, my writing partner.

"And The Breathing Method is dead. That's not a movie I'll end up making."

It would have been great to see two masters of horror like Derrickson and King collaborating on a project, particularly since Derrickson's Black Phone franchise is based on a short story by King's son, Joe Hill.

And speaking about Black Phone 2, the director said his upcoming follow-up is ‘bloodier, darker and more intense’ than the original.

He told JOE: “I will say, though, that [Black Phone 2], because it’s a high school movie, has more graphic violence, more blood and more intensity and more darkness than the first movie.

“That just seemed more befitting because the kids are a little older. A high school horror movie is a different genre altogether than a middle school horror film.”

Derrickson also told JOE that Sinister could be getting a sequel, with the filmmaker and producer Jason Blum having already had conversations about a potential reboot.

Black Phone 2 is out in cinemas on 17 October 2025.