“Firestarter”, the new science fiction horror feature, directed by Keith Thomas, starring Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, Michael Greyeyes and Gloria Reuben, has fizzled out at the box office earning only $3.8 million domestic and $5.8 million worldwide over the weekend:
The original "Firestarter" feature starred Drew Barrymore as 'Charlie McGee', who develops 'pyrokinesis':
"...score 'Andrew' and 'Charlie McGee', are a father-daughter pair on the run from a government agency known as 'The Shop'. During his college years, Andy had participated in a Shop experiment dealing with 'Lot 6', a drug with hallucinogenic effects similar to LSD. The drug gave his future wife, 'Victoria Tomlinson', minor telepathic abilities, and him an autohypnotic mind domination ability known as 'the Push'.
"Both his and Vicky's powers are physiologically limited. In his case, overuse of the Push gives him crippling migraine headaches and minute brain hemorrhages, but their daughter 'Charlie' developed a 'pyrokinetic' ability, with the full extent of her power unknown. After a mistake was made by Shop agents, Vicky was killed and Charlie was taken, but Andy, using the Push, managed to reclaim her and the pair have been on the run since..."
"Firestarter" was directed by Mark L. Lester, with music by Tangerine Dream, co-starring David Keith as 'Andy McGee', George C. Scott as 'John Rainbird', Heather Locklear as 'Vicky McGee', Martin Sheen as 'Captain "Cap" Hollister', Art Carney as 'Irv Manders' and Louise Fletcher as 'Norma Manders'.
A TV miniseries follow-up, "Firestarter 2: Rekindled", was released in 2002 on SCI FI.
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