How Stephen King Saved The Boogeyman From Being A Hulu-Exclusive Streamer

In the modern day, movies eschew their originally planned theatrical runs in favor of direct-to-streaming releases all the time. However, it's not so often that the opposite happens — when a streaming-only movie decides to hit the silver screen. Nonetheless, this is exactly what happened in the case of the 2023 Stephen King adaptation flick "The Boogeyman," which pivoted from a simple release on Hulu to a full theatrical debut. As it turns out, King's enthusiasm over the project was instrumental in the movie making the switch.

In an interview with Empire, "The Boogeyman" director Rob Savage credited King with persuading Disney, and 20th Century Studios by extension, to give the movie a shot in theaters instead of going straight to streaming. "He was absolutely fundamental in that," Savage explained. "He was pushing for it because he saw it on the big screen and said he couldn't imagine it on a tablet. He's been everything you'd want him to be. His was the only opinion we all cared about."

Those familiar with Stephen King may know that the author has a checkered history with supporting his written works' adaptations into film and TV. He has famously decried Stanley Kubrick's 1980 iteration of "The Shining" despite its renown, and he has also been vocally critical of other adaptations like 1984's "Firestarter" and 1990's "Graveyard Shift." As such, it wasn't necessarily a given that he would have a positive opinion of "The Boogeyman," but things fortunately worked out.

In an interview with Total Film, Rob Savage noted that the team was nervous about getting King's opinion on the movie even after the positive test screenings. "When the movie tested so well, we decided it was time to get his input, so we rented out his favorite cinema in Maine," the director said. "He knows what he doesn't like and if we'd have f***ed up his story, he'd have told us. But he sent a lovely almost-essay about how much he enjoyed the movie. And then the next day I wake up and there's an email in my inbox from Steve King and he said he's still thinking about the movie. He said a few more nice things and the nicest thing that he said was, 'They'd be f***ing stupid to release this on streaming and not in cinemas.'"