We’ve known for months that Sam Raimi was attached to produce a remake of 1978’s Magic . But today we learned he will also direct the film , which makes its future existence all the more exciting. The original, directed by Richard Attenborough, has become a cult classic thanks to its genuinely freaky exploration of the dynamic between an unstable magician named Corky (Anthony Hopkins, then an emerging screen talent) and his ventriloquist dummy, “Fats.”

Hopkins’ co-stars include Ann-Margret (as a childhood crush who suddenly reappears in his life) and Burgess Meredith (as his agent, who’s doomed by Fats’ hatred of him).…