Ovredal, Del Toro return for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark sequel

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Last August, director André Øvredal's cinematic adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK series of books was a box office hit, earning just under $106 million worldwide on a budget of $25 million. It took a surprising number of months for the sequel announcement to come along, but it's here now: eOne has confirmed that they are co-financing a SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK sequel.

While the first film was financed by eOne and CBS Films, with Lionsgate distributing, on this one eOne is partnering with Paramount Pictures.

Øvredal is coming back to direct the sequel, and will be working from a screenplay by the first film's writers Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman. The script is based on a story crafted by Guillermo del Toro, who also co-wrote the story and produced the previous movie. 

Details on the plot, and what elements the sequel will be lifting from Schwartz's books, were not revealed.

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK had the following synopsis: 

It’s 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind…but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time—stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah’s terrifying home.

The film starred Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Abrams, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, Lorraine Toussaint, Austin Zajur, and Natalie Ganzhorn.