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What's worse: The unnecessary sequel? The unnecessary remake? May I submit that in fact the unnecessary prequel does the job of both, simultaneously adding to a story that didn't need adding to, just as a sequel does, and managing to oddly reinvent the world of the original, just like a bad remake would. Look no further for an example than the ultimate terrible prequels, Star Wars I-III, which were not only bad movies in their own right but, boy, did they do a number on the original trilogy. A bad prequel can wreak a lot of havoc. And so when we hear news that the whispered-about prequel to The Shining is chugging along, with Warner Bros. hiring a writer, it bears taking a moment to yell: No!
That's the news today: Ousted Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara is all but signed-off to write the script for The Overlook Hotel, a prequel to the Stanley Kubrick film version of Stephen King's novel The Shining. That's an important distinction to make, as King didn't like Kubrick's film, because it deviated significantly from the book, though many hold it to be something of a horror masterpiece. So this prequel would exist more in Kubrick's world than in King's, though the prequel material would theoretically be based on a prologue written by King that was eventually cut from the book.