Firestarter(2022)

Universal Pictures

R
1h 34m

Release Date: May 13, 2022 | Wide

11%
47%
C-
4.6

A young girl tries to understand how she mysteriously gained the power to set things on fire with her mind.

Releases

Original Release | May 13, 2022

Box Office

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$3,827,715
Total US & Canada:
$9,739,250
Total International
$5,300,000
Total Worldwide:
$24,681,152

Director & Top Cast

Keith Thomas
Director

Freddie Jones
Dr. Joseph Wanless

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Summaries

Plot Summary

In a flashback, baby Charlene "Charlie" McGee sits in her crib, spontaneously setting the room ablaze with her pyrokinesis power and sending her father Andrew "Andy" McGee into a panic. In another flashback, a young Andy and his girlfriend Victoria "Vicky" Tomlinson talk to a doctor in a clinical trial, who explains to them that they will be injected with the experimental chemical drug Lot-6, which secretly gives them supernatural powers: Andy gains telepathy, and Vicky obtains telekinesis.In the present day, Charlie is sitting at the kitchen table after having a nightmare. Her parents join her and Charlie explains that she has been repressing something bad, her powers becoming more unstable. She unintentionally causes a ruckus at her school after exploding a bathroom stall due to anger at being bullied. Andy is shown using his power, "the push", to influence a client to stop smoking, although the strain causes his eyes to bleed.Meanwhile, in a secret facility, Captain Jane Hollister, leader of the Department of Scientific Intelligence (DSI), is monitoring thermal signatures caused by Charlie's outbursts. She visits Doctor Joseph Wanless, creator of Lot-6 and the resulting superhumans, who implores Hollister to terminate Charlie before her powers become uncontrollable. Hollister enlists fellow superhuman John Rainbird to assist her. Rainbird visits the McGee home, confronting Vicky, who attempts to counterattack with her repressed telekinetic powers. Rainbird kills her, holding Charlie at knifepoint as she and Andy enter the home. Charlie's powers overwhelm him and she sends a concussive burst of flames throughout the house. Andy and Charlie escape into their truck.On the road, they encounter a man named Irv Manders. After using the push to convince Irv to take them to Boston, they hitch a ride with him, stopping off at his house. After Charlie accidentally stumbles upon his paralyzed wife, Irv flies into a rage before conceding that he occasionally overreacts. Irv sits up all night watching a news report of the incident at the McGee home, which is being framed as murder by Andy. Irv and Andy argue before Andy explains to Irv that he is just trying to protect his daughter. Charlie tells Irv, after speaking telepathically with his wife, that she forgives him for the accident that left her paralyzed, causing him to relent and attempt to protect Andy and Charlie when the police appear due to his prior emergency call. Rainbird appears in the bushes, kills the policemen, and then shoots Irv in the knee before black trucks roll in to pick up Charlie and Andy. Andy uses his push to trick Rainbird so Charlie can escape to a forest. Charlie spends time honing her fire powers before stealing a bike and clothes to follow her father's telepathic message to her from his cell at DSI.Charlie finds DSI and takes an agent's pass card from him, then kills him after he draws his gun to attack her. She follows a large staircase down to the restricted area where her father is being kept. She reaches her father's glass-fronted cell, from inside which Hollister tells her not to try and burn her, lest she burn her father in the process. Andy tells Charlie that Rainbird, not he, telepathically called for her. Seeing no other way out, and knowing that he will die soon, he apologizes to her and then pushes her to burn the entire place down, starting with Hollister and himself. The now-rogue Charlie sets both on fire, mentally unlocks all the security doors, and walks through the facility killing all of the DSI agents. Rainbird is released when his holding cell is unlocked. Charlie is surrounded by men in hazmat suits, unable to harm them. The men are about to subdue her when Rainbird shoots them from behind. He surrenders to Charlie and kneels for her judgment. Charlie starts to kill him but sees herself in the mirror and, realizing that he is just as much of a pawn as her, she spares him, before finally burning the rest of the building down. Later, Charlie is seen walking onto a beach with Rainbird following behind. With nowhere to go, Charlie allows Rainbird to carry her, and they walk off together into the night. (thanks to Wikipedia)

Storyline

After being experimented on by a secret government entity called The Shop, Andy McGee develops psychic powers and meets the love of his life. Together they have a daughter with a power of her own and The Shop will stop at nothing to get them back.