UPDATE: A source in Sam Raimi’s camp has informed us that he is not attached to the project and the podcast has been amended. The original story is below.

Magic, a 1978 horror film about an evil puppet starring beloved actor Anthony Hopkins, is going to be remade by legendary director Sam Raimi according to producer Roy Lee. Lee recently appeared on the podcast Post Mortem with Mick Garris and broke the news, saying “I’ve only worked with [Sam Raimi] as a producer on films… actually… the first time I’m gonna work with him as a director is on a remake of Magic. Which is something that we’re working on now. The Anthony Hopkins movie. We’re just actually hearing the final versions of the different takes from writers next week.”

Lee then added "[Sam] loved the original movie and the book written by William Goldman." The original film is directed by Richard Attenborough from a script by Goldman, which was based on his own novel. The cult film starred Hopkins and Ann-Margret and told the story of a ventriloquist whose murderous dummy tries to destroy his love life. The film was a moderate commercial success when it was initially released in theaters back in November 1978, grossing close to $24 million against a budget of approximately $7 million, before earning cult status as the years went on.

Raimi seems like perhaps the most fitting person to direct a reimagining of the wacky horror flick that is 1978's Magic. Raimi began his career directing the original The Evil Dead and its sequel Evil Dead II, before helming other memorable genre fare like Darkman and Evil Dead-sequel Army of Darkness. Raimi became even more well-known when he directed 2002's Spider-Man, along with its two sequels. Raimi just directed this year's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and is currently set to helm the upcoming films The Kingkiller Chronicle and World War 3.

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Lee is a prolific producer who has worked on quite a few genre films throughout his career. Lee began his career as an executive producer on popular titles such as The Departed, The Ring, and The Grudge. He has since served as a producer on the horror films The Strangers, Quarantine, The Uninvited, The Boy, and Blair Witch. After producing 2017's smash hit It, Lee has been attached to some successful contemporary movies including Watcher, Barbarian, and Don't Worry Darling. Lee is currently attached to quite a few upcoming projects, including a remake of The Strangers, Late Night with the Devil, Salem's Lot, The Tommyknockers, Battle Royale, a Friday the 13th reboot, a Hellraiser series, and many other titles.

A writer for the upcoming remake of Magic has not yet been announced, nor have any names of potentially attached actors. In the meantime watch the original trailer below: