Legendary author Stephen King helped the movie adaptation of his short story The Boogeyman get a release in cinemas.

The supernatural horror movie, starring Chris Messina and Sophie Thatcher, was supposed to be released on the Hulu streaming service but executives at 20th Century Studios switched it to theatrical following positive test screenings and feedback from King.

“We showed this movie to Stephen King at the end of last year,” director Rob Savage told the audience before a screening in London on Tuesday. “We rented out his favourite cinema in Maine, he went there with a bucket of popcorn and I had somebody from 20th sitting in the back row live-tweeting the entire thing, ‘Stephen King just jumped’, ‘Stephen King laughed at this joke.’

“He came out and he sent us the loveliest message saying, ‘This is a scary f**king movie and I loved it and they would be idiots not to put this on the big screen.’ This was meant to be a streaming movie, but with Stephen King’s help, it ended up here.”

The Host filmmaker noted that he shot The Boogeyman with the cinema in mind, despite knowing the streaming release strategy.

“Even though this movie was meant to be going on the small screen, we made it with the big screen in mind, we made it with an experience like this in mind,” he added.

The Boogeyman, also starring Vivien Lyra Blair and David Dastmalchian, is inspired by King’s 1973 short story of the name. It follows grieving family members who are preyed upon by a supernatural entity in their own home.

The movie will be released in cinemas on Friday.

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