Blumhouse's The Craft Reboot Taps Zoe Lister-Jones as Director

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Blumhouse's The Craft Reboot Finds a Director

By Nicole Sobon

Published Mar 27, 2019

Blumhouse and Universal have tapped actress and director Zoe Lister-Jones to write and direct a reboot of the cult favorite, The Craft.

Blumhouse is officially moving forward with a reboot of the cult classic, The Craft, as the studio taps a writer and director.

According to Deadline, Zoe Lister-Jones has signed on to write and direct a reboot of The Craft for Blumhouse and Columbia Pictures. Lister-Jones' hiring comes approximately five months after Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum made controversial remarks regarding female directors during the press tour for Halloween.

A remake of The Craft was first announced in 2015, with Sony developing the project at the time. Since then, the reboot has moved to Universal and Blumhouse. Fearstreet's Leigh Janiak was originally set to helm Sony's adaption. It's unclear why that version didn't move forward, but Lister-Jones will now take over with Blumhouse.

Lister-Jones has previously executive produced and starred in the Fox Searchlight feature, Lola Versus. As for her writing credits, she's co-written Breaking Upwards, an indie film she also produced and starred in, as well as 2017's Sundance film, Band Aid, marking her directorial debut. The writer/actress currently stars in Life in Pieces on CBS, where she co-stars with Colin Hanks.

The Craft, which was released twenty-three years ago, centered on Robin Tunney's Sarah, a newcomer to a Catholic prep high school. She would fall in with a trio of outcasts, led by Fairuza Balk's Nancy, who practice witchcraft and end up conjuring spells and curses against those who've wronged them.

Columbia is set to co-finance The Craft with Blumhouse, with Jason Blum producing the film alongside Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher’s Red Wagon Entertainment. It's of note that Red Wagon Entertainment was the production company behind the original film.

Released in 1996, The Craft starred Robin Tunney as Sarah, Fairuza Balk as Nancy, Neve Campbell as Bonnie and Rachel True as Rochelle. The film was directed by Andrew Fleming from a script by Peter Filardi and Andrew Fleming. Despite only earning $24.8 million at the box office, The Craft has gone on to become a cult classic.

A release date for the reboot has yet to be unveiled.