Stephen King's The Boogeyman Wasn't Coming To Theaters – Here's Why That Changed

Disney's decision to send most of 20th Century Studios' recent films (with exceptions, like that little flick about space whales) directly to Hulu has proven a bit of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it's allowed those with either health issues and/or access-related concerns about going to movie theaters to have safe, immediate access to films as worlds apart as "Deep Water," "Prey," and "Rosaline." On the other hand, it's deprived those who might have preferred to catch those movies on the big screen of the option of doing so. That's in no way to suggest that making films more accessible is somehow bad — precisely the opposite. The real issue is simply the limiting of viewing options.

Personally, as someone who is perfectly content watching films for the first time at home and not particularly fussy about spoilers (I'm a heathen, I know), I'm fine with waiting a little while for a movie to play in theaters before hitting the home market. Even Netflix has made a habit of releasing its original films in theaters for a week or two before streaming them. Obviously, the whole streaming versus theatrical debate becomes a lot more complicated once you factor financial concerns in, so I won't wade too deeply into that. However, purely so far as individual enjoyment goes, the way I see it, the more options you have for how you want to watch a movie, the better.

This brings us to 20th Century Studios' "The Boogeyman," the latest Stephen King adaptation and a horror movie that was originally set to go straight to streaming on Hulu. It is now slated to hit theaters first instead — a change its co-writers, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, credit to the quality of the film and its positive early test screenings.

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods can certainly appreciate the appeal of the theatrical experience, especially when it comes to horror films. The success of "A Quiet Place," which they co-wrote, was primarily fueled by word-of-mouth about the joys of getting to watch the mostly dialogue-free thriller with a rapt, silent audience. Their new writing and directing project, "65," is similarly hoping to draw a thrill-seeking crowd in the mood for an intense sci-fi flick set in a prehistoric world of dinosaurs. So, as you might imagine, they're pleased as punch that moviegoers will be able to catch "The Boogeyman" in theaters if they so desire.

Participating in a Reddit AMA session with Woods and "65" producer Sam Raimi, Beck recounted how that came to be. "What's crazy about 'The Boogeyman' is we signed a deal to write the film to be theatrical with 20th Century Fox before it was absorbed into Disney," he recalled, at which point it "evolved" into a streaming film. Beck admitted he and Woods were "disappointed," explaining:

"The cinema-going experience is massively unique... to sit in a theater with a community and be moved or [terrified] in unison is such a special experience (we're actually building a movie theater in our hometown of Davenport, IA called The Last Picture House), so when 'The Boogeyman' went back to a theatrical movie we were THRILLED. And that's a testament to the incredible work that the filmmaking team did, between Rob Savage, producers 21 Laps, actors like Chris Messina and Sophie Thatcher, etc."

Regardless of how I myself choose to watch "The Boogeyman," I'm glad others have multiple options available to them. As for whether it's a "great film," like Beck described it? Audiences can judge that for themselves starting June 2, 2023.