Warner Bros. to reboot The Lost Boys in theaters

It’s been almost 35 years since cult classic vampire movie The Lost Boys hit theaters and became one of the defining Generation X movies and a classic of teenage cinema. It would influence everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Twilight to What We Do in the Shadows, and now, Warner Bros. thinks the time is right for a reboot.

The original film followed two brothers, Michael and Sam, as they move to California with their mother after she leaves her husband. Soon, they discover that their town is beset by a gang of vampires. To fight back, they enlist the comic-book-loving Edgar and Alan, who believe themselves capable vampire hunters.

The studio has already found its director, writer, and cast. Randy McKinnon will write the film while The End of the F***king World director Jonathan Entwistle will direct. Entwistle also recently directed the pilot episode for Disney+’s sequel Willow series, picking up where the 1988 Warwick Davis classic left off. So that’s two iconic ’80s movies he’s rebooting.

The original Lost Boys was directed by Joel Schumacher after Richard Donner dropped out. Speaking to Empire back in 2019, Schumacher said, “Warner Bros. took a big chance with this movie, and with me, because they really didn’t know what the heck I was doing.” At first, the film was going to be more child-friendly. “It was very much ‘Goonies Go Vampire’ Charming and adorable, and very G-rated, the farthest thing that could be in my consciousness.”

"There was a bit of a shame factor at Warner Bros. People in marketing would say, ‘Well, it’s not really a vampire movie, Joel, it’s really an alienation movie, it’s about the disenfranchised.’ And I said, ‘No. We absolutely are making a teenage vampire movie. Our job is to make the coolest vampire movie ever made.’"

The original cast included some of the biggest teen acting idols of the era, including Jason Patric, Alex Winter, Corey Haim, Keifer Sutherland, and Corey Feldman. The new reboot will keep the franchise teenage-centric. It will star British actor Noah Jupe, who already has several highly impressive credits already under his belt, including Penny Dreadful, The Night Manager, Ford v Ferrari and A Quiet Place. Alongside Jupe will be 18-year-old Jaeden Martell, best known as Bill Denbrough in the most recent adaptation of Stephen King’s IT. He has also appeared in American Dad!, Masters of Sex and Knives Out.

A Lost Boys TV show is on permanent hiatus

A television series based on The Lost Boys had been in the works since 2016, with one pilot produced, another nearly underway, and numerous rewrites sending it into development hell. Rob Thomas (iZombie, Veronica Mars) had been spearheading the drive to get the show into production with The CW, with COVID-19 shutting down work on the second pilot. The CW series is seemingly now out of the picture, with the reboot movie being the only Lost Boys material now in production.

There is no current information on the plot or other casting for the new movie, nor a scheduled release date. However, the reimagined Lost Boys is believed to occur in the current day rather than be a direct remake of the original.

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