WIRE Buzz: The Conjuring writers set new horror franchise; PlayStation Vue shutting down; more

Chad and Carey Hayes, the twin brothers who struck horror gold with their screenplay for The Conjuring, are setting up their next horror franchise, and they're once again turning to a true story for inspiration. Deadline reports the Hayes brothers have teamed up with the recently launched production company Faster Horse Pictures for a planned series of films centered on New Orleans' famous LaLaurie Mansion. 

The mansion — once home to the notorious serial killer Madame LaLaurie, who terrorized New Orleans in the early 19th century — is one of the most famous purportedly haunted buildings in the world, and while it has not been open to the public for decades it retains a healthy reputation as a New Orleans tourist attraction. Madame LaLaurie and her crimes were previously the inspiration for Kathy Bates' character in American Horror Story: Coven, and now the Hayes brothers are hoping to launch their own series of stories from the mansion. 

“We love writing films in which we get to tell true stories – incorporating moments that people can look up and discover did in fact happen," the Hayes brothers said in a statement. "With the LaLaurie House we get to do exactly that. There is a wealth of documentation of a very dark and frightening past of true events. Not to mention that after spending some time there, what we personally experienced was truly unnerving."

The Hayes brothers have already visited LaLaurie Mansion thanks to its owner, Faster Horse collaborator Michael Whalen, and the duo is reportedly also toying with the idea of writing their first screenplay for the franchise inside the house. Once the films move into production, the franchise will also be partially shot there. 

There's no word yet on how soon we can expect to see the first film in this new horror franchise, but considering how big The Conjuring turned out to be, we can't wait to learn more.

In 2015, Sony launched PlayStation Vue, a TV service that offered subscribers the ability to stream up to 80 channels live on their PlayStation consoles and other supported devices. Now, the company has announced that in a matter of months, the service will be shuttered. Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed in a blog post on the PlayStation website Tuesday that PlayStation Vue will be shut down as of January 30, 2020.

"Unfortunately, the highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected," the post read. "Because of this, we have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business."

PlayStation Vue was one of several streaming TV services to launch in recent years, including YouTube TV and Hulu Live TV, offering a cord-cutting alternative to cable packages. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Vue had 800,000 subscribers as of last May, but the service was operating in a field that's shifting more and more to direct-to-consumer streaming services like the upcoming Disney+, Peacock, HBO Max, and Apple TV+. 

"We are very proud of what PlayStation Vue was able to accomplish," the blog post continued. "We had ambitious goals for how our service could change how people watch TV, showcasing PlayStation’s ability to innovate in a brand-new category within the Pay TV industry. We want to thank all of our customers, some of whom have been with us since PlayStation Vue’s launch in 2015."

From the moment we saw the first footage from Doctor Sleep, director Mike Flanagan's (The Haunting of Hill House) adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name, we knew we were in for something that was going to have to walk a very specific storytelling line. As a novel, Doctor Sleep is a sequel to King's classic ghost story The Shining, which was famously adapted for the big screen by Stanley Kubrick in 1980. King famously had issues with the liberties Kubrick took in adapting his book, but Kubrick's version of The Shining became a horror classic in its own very distinct way, which meant that Flanagan would have to address both Kubrick and King's interpretations of the story when it came time to make a cinematic sequel. In a new Doctor Sleep featurette, Flanagan and King discuss how it all turned out. 

The two-minute clip begins with Flanagan waiting to meet one of his heroes, as he reveals that despite adapting two of the horror legend's novels — Gerald's Game was the first — he had never actually met Stephen King in real life. After the two horror storytellers finally met, they sat down for a conversation about how Flanagan approached his version of Doctor Sleep, which is an attempt both honor the "monolithic" influence and impact of Kubrick's film and also "honor themes" from The Shining as a novel that Kubrick's version of the story left out. King, who hasn't always been happy about adaptations of his work, seems pleased.

"By taking Dan Torrance's story as a grownup, and filtering it through his own large heart, Mike has been able to take the Kubrick movie a step further," King said. 

Doctor Sleep is in theaters November 8.