Joey King broke out with 2010’s Ramona and Beezus, but since then the young star has chosen movies that are more adrenaline-fuelled, like White House Down, Independence Day: Resurgence and The Conjuring. The latter probably factored most heavily into her casting in Wish Upon, a horror thriller from John Leonetti, the director who made Conjuring spin-off Annabelle.
Image: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Variety reports that the 17-year-old actor will play “a misfit who finds a magic box that promises a chance at the life she’s always wanted. However, she soon discovers that each wish demands a deadly payment.”
That story — the script is by Barbara Marshall (of TV show The Listener, which is a drama about a psychic EMT) — sure sounds heavily inspired by Richard Matheson’s short story, “Button, Button“, which has previously been adapted into a well-known Twilight Zone episode as well as Richard Kelly’s 2009 feature film The Box.