The cast also features Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday, Gabriella Wilde, Ansel Elgort and Alex Russell.
The film is a modern re-imagining of King's novel about a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother, who uses her telekinetic powers with devastating effect after falling victim to a cruel prank at her senior prom.
The school's physical education teacher, Miss Rita Desjardin, comforts Carrie and sends her home with her disturbed, religious fanatic mother Margaret White, who believes menstruation is a sin.
After giving her testimony in court regarding the prom incident, Sue visits Carrie and Margaret's graves and places white roses by the headstone.
After placing the roses on Carrie's grave, Sue suddenly feels pain from her pregnancy and begins to go into labor.
[14] Said Peirce of her interest in the material: "Oh, these are all my issues: I deal with misfits, with what power does to people, with humiliation and anger and violence.
"[7] Peirce and producer Kevin Misher sought to make the film more faithful to the book, as opposed to a retread of De Palma's Carrie.
[9][8] Among the changes the filmmakers added was a focus on the mother-daughter relationship as the heart of the film,[7][15] more character development of Sue and Chris,[9] a plot line involving cyberbullying to modernize the story,[15][8] and giving Carrie more control of her powers.
[20] Principal photography took place in the summer of 2012 in the Greater Toronto Area, with locations including Mississauga and Etobicoke.
[27][28] Moretz told Fangoria at the time: "We did some reshoots and added three extra scenes with Julianne and I to make the movie even deeper and darker.
"[26] Sony held a "First Look" event at the New York Comic Con on October 13, 2013, that allowed attendees to view the film prior to the release date.
[30] Two weeks prior to Carrie's release, the studio reportedly held test screenings in which they showed viewers four different alternate endings and asked them to pick which one they liked best.
[33] In the alternative opening, a young Carrie has a discussion with her teenage neighbor, who is sun-bathing, over the fact that Margaret believes that women with breasts are sinful.
The website's critical consensus reads: "It boasts a talented cast, but Kimberly Peirce's 'reimagining' of Brian De Palma's horror classic finds little new in the Stephen King novel -- and feels woefully unnecessary".
[37] Kevin C. Johnson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the film a favorable review: "Long before the blood starts spilling, it's clear the new team has mostly nailed it.
The reboot is as good a Carrie remake as possible, though it's not truly a scary movie; the film takes its time living up to its R rating".
[38] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle also gave the film a favorable review: "In a way, the new Carrie is almost too easy to enjoy.
[39] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "The acting's strong; in addition to Moretz and Moore, Judy Greer is a welcome presence in the Betty Buckley role of the sympathetic gym instructor.
[40] Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave it three out of five stars: "With the exception of some appearances by social media, Carrie doesn't try to hip up King's basic, often slow story.
And while De Palma's version is fondly recalled as a high-blood-mark of the 1970s, this new take seems to linger a bit more on the bugaboos of overparenting and bullying while underplaying Mama's fanaticism.
[41] In a positive review on Roger Ebert's website, Matt Zoller Seitz awarded the film three out of four stars, praising the portrayal of Carrie and Margaret's relationship and the feelings of sympathy Carrie manages to evoke, although he criticizes the representation of Chris as "exaggeratedly evil".
Club gave the film a C− rating, criticizing Moretz's Carrie as "too adjusted, coming across less like the 'very peculiar girl' King described in his novel and more like the stealth babe of some nottie-to-hottie teen romance".
Dowd lamented on the film as a whole: "It's a strange thing to say about a movie so obsessed with the red stuff, but this Carrie is bloodless".
[43] In Grantland, Wesley Morris wrote, "[Peirce's] movies include Boys Don't Cry and Stop-Loss, and you can feel her caught in the awkward position of wanting to challenge the material, to open it up further rather than furnishing the film with as much vaginal imagery as she does.
However, the final takings totaled $16.1 million and the film came in at number 3 behind Gravity and Captain Philips, both of which were in their second and third weeks, respectively.
[61][33] The film's teaser trailer, which was first released on October 15, 2012, suggested a more faithful adaptation of King's novel, with voiceovers that recalled the White Committee used as a framing device in the book, and the camera zooming out on a destroyed, burning town.