Mike Barker to direct Stephen King's The Talisman

Mike Barker is to direct the movie adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub's novel 'The Talisman'.

The 'Handmaid's Tale' director is on board to helm the highly anticipated movie version of the best-selling 1984 fantasy story.

The movie will follow Jack Sawyer, a 12-year-old boy forced to quest through a monstrous alternate dimension to find the powerful talisman crystal that can save his mother from dying of cancer.

Steven Spielberg's Amblin and the Kennedy/Marshall Company are producing the project while 'Buried' writer Chris Sparling will adapt the book into a screenplay.

Spielberg has been keen to adapt 'The Talisman' for years and previously got Universal Pictures to buy him the rights to the book on a permanent basis, not just an option to adapt, which would have expired within years.

Speaking about his desire to bring the book by King - who is most famous for his horror novels such as 'Carrie', 'The Shining' and 'It' - to the big screen Spielberg previously said: "It's something that I've wanted to see come to theatres for the last 35 years. I feel that in the very near future, that's going to be our richest collaboration."

The most recent film adaptation of one of King's novels was the hit 2017 horror movie 'It' based on his acclaimed 1986 novel, which sees a group of children known as The Losers Club in the small town of Derry, Maine face off against an evil entity named Pennywise the Dancing Clown - played by Bill Skarsgard - who is murdering children.

'It: Chapter Two' is set 27 years after the first instalment and sees The Losers Club return to Derry to battle Pennywise again after he returns to terrorise the town's children once again.

The sequel will star Jessica Chastain as Beverly, James McAvoy as Bill, Bill Hader as Richie, James Ransone as Eddie and Andy Bean as Stan, and is set to be released in September.