Universal Pictures and Dino De Laurentiis Co. hope to reignite the 1984 sci-fi thriller Firestarter as a movie franchise, Variety reports.

The original film, based on the 1980 novel by Stephen King, starred David Keith and Drew Barrymore as Andy and Charlie McGee, a father and daughter on the run from a government agency that sought to control Charlie's frightening pyrokinetic ability. A sequel, the 2002 TV movie Firestarter 2: Rekindled, followed an adult Charlie McGee as she remained on the run from her past. It was intended to be followed by a television series, but that never materialized.

According to Variety, the new Firestarter is expected to be loosely based on King's book, "but the main character is to be reinvented with a little more edge."

"We see this as a unique, character-driven thriller with a supernatural edge, based on a timeless concept and enhanced by recent visual effects advances," says De Laurentiis Co. chairman Martha De Laurentiis.

Mark L. Smith (Vacancy, The Hole) is working on the script for Firestarter, which Universal hopes to get into production next year.