Mike Flanagan Wants to Make ‘Jaws’ and a “Really Scary” ‘Jurassic’ Movie

Mike Flanagan has spent much of his career adapting and playing with the work of other creators, from Shirley Jackson to Stephen King, and Christopher Pike to Edgar Allan Poe. During an Ask-Me-Anything session over on Reddit this week, in promotion of Flanagan’s latest Stephen King project “Carrie,” the modern horror master revealed that he’d love to work with a certain killer shark as well as some rogue dinosaurs.

via: Dread Central

During a Reddit AMA hosted through Prime Video to promote Carrie, the filmmaker was asked which other franchise he’d like to tackle after The Exorcist. His answer? Jaws and Jurassic, with a particular interest in making the dinosaurs scary as fuck.

“It’s so funny to me because I spent a lot of my career thinking I wouldn’t do franchises or sequels, and – whoops – but I really love getting to play in a world I know and respect and adore, and put my own spin on it,” Flanagan wrote.

“Honestly, I wish to hell I could make a Jaws movie. Another example where no one will EVER get close to the original, but there is a ton of room for improvement on the sequels.”

That last part is important. He’s talking about finding his own way into this world, with an understanding that nobody is going to top Steven Spielberg’s original.

I raise my hand. I approve.

Jaws helped define the summer blockbuster, but what makes it so good goes well beyond the shark. It’s a character piece. You remember the people, their relationships, and the dynamics of a town that doesn’t want to acknowledge what’s happening because its livelihood depends on keeping the beaches open.

That’s exactly why Flanagan feels like such a good fit. He knows how to build a community, develop interesting characters, and find the themes that tie their stories together. Look at Midnight Mass. Give him a coastal town and a threat in the water, and I would be very interested in spending time with those people before the shark even shows up.

The pandemic also made the human behavior in Jaws feel painfully timely to me: the arguments about public safety, the financial pressure to stay open, and the refusal to take a threat seriously until it’s impossible to ignore. There’s plenty for a contemporary story to explore without trying to remake the first movie.

But sharks aren’t the only creatures on Flanagan’s wish list.

“A Jurassic movie could be a blast too,” he adds. “I’d want to go really scary with it. A true dinosaur horror film would be a blast.”

A Flanagan dinosaur horror movie? Yeah, I’d love to see that, too. The scary parts of Jurassic Park are a huge part of why that movie works, and leaning into that side of the franchise is an incredibly appealing idea.

In another response, a fan asked which horror subjects he still wanted to explore. Flanagan kept that answer short:

“Aliens, werewolves, sharks, sharks, SHARKS…”

For clarity, these are projects he’d like to make, not announcements that he’s attached to either franchise. But somebody at Universal should probably give the man a call.

Meanwhile, Flanagan also offered a quick update on his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower when a reader asked how it was coming along.

“Looking really good. It just takes a LONG time to get this one started – it’s like building and launching an oil tanker (and then pushing it up a mountain).”

No production date there, but he’s clearly still working to get it moving.

For now, Carrie is streaming on Prime Video, and The Exorcist: Martyrs is next on the big screen. After that? I’m certainly not going to complain if Flanagan wants to spend some time making us afraid of the water again.