Stephen King's 'Desperation' to be filmed by Searchlight with Sam Raimi producing

Searchlight Pictures is developing a feature‑film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1996 horror novel Desperation. The project marks the first collaboration between King and veteran horror filmmaker Sam Raimi, who will serve as producer alongside Robert Tapert.

Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein – the duo behind Final Destination: Bloodlines – are in talks to helm the film and also act as producers. Ryan Brennan is credited with the screenplay, and the production is overseen by Searchlight SVP of Production Taylor Friedman and creative executive Cameron Chidsey. The announced logline reads: “Stranded in a remote desert town where something evil has awakened, a group of travelers must fight to survive when a sadistic, possessed cop turns routine arrests into a relentless fight for their lives.”

No cast, shooting schedule or release date has been disclosed. The novel was previously adapted as a poorly received TV movie in 2006, but the new version aims to bring the Nevada‑setting horror to a larger cinematic scale as part of a wave of King adaptations slated for 2025.