The Craft reboot: Sony Pictures hires 10 Cloverfield Lane writer for complete script rejig

It seems to be a popular trend these days for Hollywood to revisit cult classics from the 1990s and gear them up for the big screens yet again.

In just a week's time, Dwayne Johnson-led comedy Baywatch is set to be released in cinemas while elsewhere, reboots of both Jumanji and Flatliners are currently in development.

In 2015, fantasy drama The Craft was announced as getting similar treatment at Sony Pictures, but the title has had a difficult time getting off the ground. Now, it seems like things are finally moving forward as writer Daniel Casey (10 Cloverfield Lane) has come aboard to rewrite the current script.

Filmmaker Leigh Janiak, who is perhaps best known for directing Rose Leslie in horror drama Honeymoon and a few episodes of Scream the TV series, has been linked to the project for two years now and it had always been assumed he would co-write the screenplay alongside usual collaborator Phil Graziadei. Even if he's not going to work on the script now, at least Casey's recent involvement means fans are safe in the knowledge the studio is still developing it behind the scenes.

Originally released in 1996, The Craft centred on troubled teenager Sarah (Robin Tunney), who makes friends with a trio of budding witches (Rachel True, Fairuza Balk and Neve Campbell), after her family move from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Simultaneously, she grows close to high-school jock Chris (Skeet Ulrich) who warns her that her new buddies are bad news.

The currently untitled sequel will be "very much about now," producer Douglas Wick previously told HitFix. "The same way you use a war movie to explore the psyche of men, you get to create a heightened world to explore the psyche of these women.

"And so that seemed like an opportunity that was ripe and a way to make a movie that would be very much about now. And of course, part of that was just finding a talent that felt like enough of a real talent that you'd really be interested in her interpretation of this kind of story now, and of course Leigh is exactly that."