Stephen King Movies and TV Shows

King's domination of the horror genre began with 'Carrie' in 1976

Stephen King promotes 'Under The Dome' at the North Point Boulevard Walmart on November 11, 2009 in Dundalk, Maryland.
Larry French/Stringer/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Stephen King is one of the most prolific authors alive, but he is just as well known for the movies and adaptations made from his books and stories as for his writing. Use this list of King's movies, short films and TV shows to find out if your favorite book has been adapted to the screen or to find new King movies to enjoy.

The Early Years: King's First Movies

Although King wrote a column for his high school newspaper and short stories to augment his income after he graduated from college in 1966, it wasn't until 1971, when he took a job teaching high school English classes at a public high school in Maine, that he had the time write in evenings and on weekends on his first novels. In the spring of 1973, "Carrie" was accepted for publication and its subsequent major paperback sale provided him with the means to leave teaching and write full-time. Shortly afterward, he began work on Salem's Lot. In time, both would become movies, and Steven King's prolific career was off and running.

  • 1976 - Carrie
  • 1979 - Salem's Lot

1980-1989: Bestsellers and Pseudonyms

In the '80s, King put his college dramatic society experience to use making cameo appearances in adaptations of his work. He first appeared in Creepshow in 1982 and made his directorial debut with the movie Maximum Overdrive, an adaptation of his short story "Trucks" in 1985. He continued to turn out bestseller after bestseller, many of which were eventually made into big-screen films.

King tested his success in the '80s by writing several short novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. They included "The Running Man" in 1982 and "Thinner" in 1984. After he was outed as the true author, he announced the "death" of Bachman.

  • 1980 - The Shining
  • 1982 - Creepshow - Five short films: "Father's Day," "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill," "Something to Tide You Over," "The Crate" and "They're Creeping Up On You")
  • 1982 - The Boogeyman (short film)
  • 1983 - Cujo
  • 1983 - The Dead Zone
  • 1983 - Christine
  • 1983 - Disciples of the Crow (short film)
  • 1983 - The Woman in the Room (short film)
  • 1984 - Children of the Corn
  • 1984 - Firestarter
  • 1985 - Cat's Eye (Three short films: "Quitters, Inc.," "The Ledge," and "The General")
  • 1985 - Silver Bullet
  • 1985 - Stephen King's Nightshift Collection (Two short films: "The Woman in the Room" and "The Boogeyman")
  • 1985 - Word Processor of the Gods (episode of Tales from the Darkside)
  • 1986 - Gramma (episode of The Twilight Zone)
  • 1986 - Maximum Overdrive
  • 1986 - Stand By Me
  • 1987 - Creepshow 2 (Three short films: "Old Chief Wood'n'head," "The Raft," and "The Hitchhiker")
  • 1987 - A Return to Salem's Lot
  • 1987 - The Running Man
  • 1987 - The Last Rung on the Ladder (short film)
  • 1987 - Sorry, Right Number (episode of Tales from the Darkside)
  • 1989 - Pet Sematary

1990-1999: A Decade of Classics

The adaptations of King's works during this decade is a list of horror classics, familiar to just about anyone interested in the horror, ​fantasy and science fiction genres.

  • 1990 - The Cat From Hell (short film)
  • 1990 - Graveyard Shift
  • 1990 - It (TV mini-series)
  • 1990 - Misery
  • 1990 - The Moving Finger (Monsters episode)
  • 1991 - Golden Years (TV miniseries)
  • 1991 - Sometimes They Come Back
  • 1992 - Sleepwalkers
  • 1993 - The Dark Half
  • 1993 - Needful Things
  • 1993 - The Tommyknockers (miniseries)
  • 1993 - Chinga (episode of The X-files)
  • 1994 - The Shawshank Redemption
  • 1994 - The Stand (miniseries)
  • 1995 - The Langoliers (miniseries)
  • 1995 - The Mangler
  • 1995 - Dolores Claiborne
  • 1995 - Stephen King's Nightshift Collection
  • 1996 - Thinner
  • 1997 - The Shining (TV miniseries)
  • 1997 - Ghosts (music video)
  • 1997 - The Night Flier (HBO Movie)
  • 1997 - Quicksilver Highway (segment Chattery Teeth)
  • 1997 - Trucks (TV Remake of "Maximum Overdrive")
  • 1998 - Apt Pupil
  • 1999 - The Green Mile
  • 1999 - The Rage: Carrie 2
  • 1999 - Storm of the Century (TV miniseries)
  • 1999 - Llamadas (short film)

2000-2009: Expanding the Boundaries

In 2000, King published an online serialized horror novel, "The Plant," which he eventually abandoned. The same year, he wrote his first digital novella "Riding the Bullet" and predicted the coming popularity of e-books. In 2003, he wrote a column for Entertainment Weekly. By 2007, Marvel Comics was publishing comic books based on King's Dark Tower series. In 2009, he published "Ur," a novella written for the launch of the 2nd generation Kindle reader. Following a serious accident in 2002, King took a lengthy break from writing.

  • 2000 - Paranoid (short film)
  • 2001 - Hearts in Atlantis
  • 2001 - Strawberry Spring (short film)
  • 2002 - Rose Red (TV miniseries)
  • 2002 - The Dead Zone (TV Series)
  • 2002 - Night Surf (short film)
  • 2002 - Rainy Season (short film)
  • 2002 - Carrie (TV movie remake)
  • 2003 - Dreamcatcher
  • 2003 - The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (TV movie)
  • 2003 - Autopsy Room Four (short film)
  • 2003 - Here There Be Tygers (short film)
  • 2003 - The Man in the Black Suit (short film)
  • 2004 - Secret Window
  • 2004 - Kingdom Hospital (TV series)
  • 2004 - Salem's Lot (TV miniseries)
  • 2004 - Luckey Quarter (short film)
  • 2004 - The Secret Transit Codes of America's Highways (short film)
  • 2004 - All That You Love Will Be Carried Away (short film)
  • 2004 - Riding the Bullet
  • 2005 - I Know What You Need (short film)
  • 2006 - Desperation (TV miniseries)
  • 2006 - Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the stories of Stephen King
  • 2006 - Suffer the Little Children (short film)
  • 2007 - 1408
  • 2007 -
  • 2007 - No Smoking (Bollywood movie)
  • 2009 - Dolan's Cadillac

2010 to Present: TV and Awards With a Return to the Big Screen

King received many awards throughout his career, and the decade beginning with 2010 continued the trend, bringing him three Bram Stoker Awards, the Edgar Award for Best Novel for "Mr. Mercedes," the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for "11/22/63,"  The Mystery Writers of American Grand Master Award in 2007, The National Book Award Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2003 and the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2004, among others. The decade saw many King works in short films, TV series and miniseries. Toward the end of this time, his work was again dominating the big screen.

  • 2010 - The Haven (TV series based on the characters from The Colorado Kid)
  • 2011 - In the Deathroom (short film)
  • 2011 - Survivor Type (short film)
  • 2011 - That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French (short film)
  • 2011 - The Things They Left Behind (short film)
  • 2011 - Everything's Eventual (Dollar Baby short film)
  • 2011 - Message from Jerusalem (short film)
  • 2011 - One for the Road (short film)
  • 2011 - Bag of Bones (TV miniseries)
  • 2012 - Love Never Dies (short film)
  • 2012 - Willa (short film)
  • 2012 - Survivor Type (short film)
  • 2012 - Maxwell Edison (short film based on "The Man Who Loved Flowers")
  • 2012 - The Man Who Loved Flowers (short film)
  • 2012 - Stephen King's The Boogeyman (short film)
  • 2012 - Grey Matter (short film)
  • 2012 - A Very Tight Place (short film)
  • 2012 - Popsy (short film)
  • 2013 - The Reaper's Image (based on a short story)
  • 2013 - Under the Dome (TV series)
  • 2013 - Cain Rose Up
  • 2013 - Willa
  • 2013 - Here There May Be Tygers (short film)
  • 2013 - In the Deathroom (short film)
  • 2013 - The Boogeyman (short film)
  • 2013 - Carrie
  • 2013 - Under the Dome (TV series based on the novel from 2009)
  • 2014 - A Good Marriage
  • 2014 - Mercy
  • 2014 - Big Driver (TV movie based on 2010 novella)
  • 2016 - Cell
  • 2016 - 11.22.63 (Hulu original programming based on 2011 novel)
  • 2017 - The Dark Tower
  • 2017 - It (Part 1)
  • 2017 - Children of the Corn: Runaway
  • 2017 - Gerald's Game
  • 2017 - The Mist (TV series)
  • 2018 - Mr. Mercedes (TV series)
  • 2018 - The Dark Tower (TV series)