Rob Letterman's upcoming GOOSEBUMPS feature film—based on the R.L. Stine young adult horror series—appears to be moving along quite nicely, recently adding Jack Black and 16 year-old Israeli actress Odeya Rush to the cast, and now Variety is reporting that PRISONERS actor Dylan Minnette has signed on for the co-lead opposite Black.
According to Variety the story is loosely based on the book series and follows…
…Minnette’s character who moves from New York City to the small town of Greendale, Maryland, where his secretive new neighbor turns out to be veteran young adult horror author R.L. Stine (Black). When all the many demons of Stine’s mind are set free by Slappy, a demonic ventriloquist’s dummy, it’s up to Minnette’s character and Stine’s niece Hannah to put all the evil genies back in the bottle.
GOOSEBUMPS is one of the most popular children’s book series ever, surpassed only by the HARRY POTTER novels in total sales, with more than 300 million copies sold worldwide. Yes, the books were extremely popular back in the day, but do kids still read them anymore? Will the GOOSEBUMPS movie still find an audience after all these years? We'll have to wait and see, but it certainly sounds like they are taking a more family friendly approach to this one which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Kids need cool horror movies too!
Darren Lemke and Mike White wrote the script. Deborah Forte and Neal H. Moritz will produce.