Since Ring hit Japanese cinemas in January 1998, The Ring series has seen a whopping 12 movies released. Those have been divided into various sub-franchises, with Japan and the US telling their own stories and South Korea getting a look in with The Ring Virus. The most recent efforts have been 2017’s Rings in the US and last year’s Sadako in Japan. Both underperformed, and though Rings earned a box office haul of $83 million on a $25 million budget, that’s just a fraction of its predecessors.

Now, Paramount is doing what studios usually do when a franchise has run out of steam: reboot. Our sources are saying that the studio has begun development of a hot new take on The Ring to breathe some life into those mouldering old bones. Word is that they want to bring back Gore Verbinski to direct, and if he signs on, he’d be making a return to the franchise after helming the 2002 US remake of the original movie. However, with VHS tapes a distant memory for older audiences and completely alien to younger ones, they’re going to shift focus to… you guessed it, smartphones.

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