WIRE Buzz: Mike Flanagan tackling Midnight Club for Netfilx; Black Mirror scribe taking a break; more

As part of Mike Flanagan’s overall deal with Netflix to produce content that either has the words “Midnight” or “Haunting” in the titles (that clause may just be speculation), the Doctor Sleep and The Haunting of Hill House director is now looking to adapt The Midnight Club for the streaming giant (not to be confused with the Midnight Mass series Flanagan is also making for Netflix). 

According to Variety, Flanagan and Leah Fong will adapt and executive produce the Christopher Pike novel into a series for Netflix.

Originally published in 1994, The Midnight Club takes place at a hospice for terminally ill teenagers, where a group of patients come together at midnight to share scary stories. They eventually make a pact that whichever of them dies first will contact the others from beyond the grave. (Again, this is not to be confused with Midnight Mass, which centers on the residents of an island whose lives are turned upside-down when a young priest comes ashore.)

Variety's sources also note that the show will incorporate elements of Pike's other works, though no exact titles are mentioned. His YA titles include The Thirst and Chain Letter series and books like Remember Me and Alosha. 

Production has wrapped on Flanagan’s latest project for Netflix, The Haunting of Bly Manor, which is a follow-up to 2018's The Haunting of Hill House. The Haunting of Bly Manor is set to hit Netflix sometime later this year.

Credit: Netflix

With the coronavirus pandemic raging, sometimes too much dystopia isn't a good thing. At least that's the current view of Black Mirror mastermind Charlie Brooker.

In a new interview with the Radio Times, the showrunner/creator offered up his thoughts on a potential sixth season of his Emmy-winning British sci-fi anthology series, and suffice to say, Black Mirror fans are going to be disappointed.

“I’ve been busy, doing things. I don’t know what I can say about what I’m doing and not doing," Brooker told the outlet. "At the moment, I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on one of those. I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh."

Brooker refused to divulge details on his latest projects, however. Season 5 of Black Mirror premiered on Netflix last June and consisted of three episodes starring the likes of Anthony Mackie, Miley Cyrus, and Topher Grace. It came six months on the heels of Brooker's critically acclaimed interactive Black Mirror film Bandersnatch.

Paramount Pictures has bought 2084, an original spec script from Mattson Tomlin, co-writer of Matt Reeves’ forthcoming The Batman, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who's behind the Transformers and G.I. Joe films, is producing.

Although few details are being disclosed, the trade is describing the project as having elements of Inception and The Matrix, while being a spiritual sibling to George Orwell’s novel 1984. (Perhaps prisoners of a totalitarian state who don’t realize they’re prisoners? People living in a false reality? Something along those lines? Well, that’s what we’re thinking until we’re told otherwise.)  

The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, was already underway but had to shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.