It appears that Stephen King’s beloved novel The Shining is all the rage at the moment.  King is set to release his sequel novel Doctor Sleep later this fall and the Shining-centric documentary Room 237 recently hit theaters, but now it appears that the story is headed to the big screen once again by way of a prequel.  Glen Mazzara—who previously took over for Frank Darabont as showrunner on AMC’s The Walking Dead before being forced out of the position halfway through the most recent season—has been tapped to write the screenplay for the Warner Bros. prequel film The Overlook Hotel. Hit the jump for more.

Warner Bros. is reportedly “quietly exploring the possibility” of a prequel to The Shining.  A WB spokeswoman told the LA Times that the project is at a very early stage and not even formally in development.  But now that the report is published, it will be difficult for the studio to explore the idea quietly, and it is hard to believe that you all will react positively to the news.  At first glance, it sounds like a terrible idea.  The Shining is about a relatively normal writer who takes his family to an isolated hotel and slowly descends into madness.  The prequel will be set before this character journey begins, and so will tell the story of… what, exactly?  To be fair, the presence of a psychic son should offer some plot possibilities.  [Edit: A commenter brings up a possibility that I stupidly overlooked: the movie follows other characters during their stay at the Overlook Hotel rather than the Torrance family.  That is indeed a more viable premise.]

The bright spot is the team in charge of development: writer/producers Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) and James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) with their producing partner Bradley Fischer (Black Swan).  There are solid psychological horror credits in those parentheses, so if there is a story to be told, they’ll find it.  More after the jump.