Earlier this year it was revealed that Back to the Future and Forest Gump helmer Robert Zemeckis is set to direct a new adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl children’s book The Witches, and now Omega Underground has revealed some alleged plot details for the new film.
According to the site, Zemeckis’ take on The Witches will shift the setting to Alabama in 1969, with the main character and his grandmother portrayed by African American actors. The synopsis is said to read as follows:
When his parents are killed, a young boy goes to live with his feisty, loving grandma, who had a terrifying encounter with witches when she was just a girl. When Grandma realizes that the witches have returned, she flees with the Boy to the swankiest resort in the South — only to realize that they’ve wandered right into a nest of witches, headed by the Grand High Witch, who intends to transform the world’s children into mice — starting with the Boy…
The report goes on to state that the boy will have a pet mouse called Daisy, who was previously a young girl before being transformed by a witch, and when both he and Bruno Jenkins find themselves turned into mice, they’ll team up with Daisy to take down the witches and thwart their plans.
Filming on The Witches is expected to get underway in April 2019. As yet there’s no word on a potential release date.