May 15 2008'Goosebumps' Coming to Big Screen, Scholastic Catalogs
For once you'll be able to get a Goosebumps tale without ordering it from a flimsy catalog at school and waiting a week: Columbia Pictures has acquired the rights to bring the young-adult series to theaters! Producers say the "time is ripe" to bring the books to screens, claiming there is a new generation just cracking open the uniquely rippled, literally-goosebumped covers, and that first generation fans are now in their 20s. I can't dispute the latter fact, but I do question the logic that having been exposed to Goosebumps a decade ago would somehow equate to wanting to now see the tame, kiddy version of Tales from the Crypt in theaters. I can honestly tell you a live-action Night of the Living Dummy is in no way appealing to me. And how could they top the Fox Kids television version?
The studio still has yet to announce which story will first be adapted, but with the series' propensity for long, mildly-scary buildups to laughable twist-endings, M. Night Shyamalan seems like the natural choice for directing.
Stine gives Columbia 'Goosebumps' [Variety]
Reader Comments
1. Mac - May 15, 2008 2:33 PM
Couple things wrong with this:
1. I'm pretty sure the Goosebumps book are not as popular with the tween crowd as they think it is.
2. As already stated, no older fan of the series is going to want to see them. Nostalgia does not equal interest(see Speed Racer)
3. Goosebumps sucked.
2. Mike - May 15, 2008 2:49 PM
1. own just about all of the goosebump books.
2. I would f-ing love to see goosebumps on the big screen.
3. Speed Racer sucked from the beginning.
4. yeah i am in my 20's
5. Mac is a jackass.
3. Superevil - May 15, 2008 4:05 PM
Let's make an Are You Afraid Of The Dark movie while we're at it. Or BoxCar Kids. Didn't they make a BabySitters Club movie already? If not, fucking get to it!
4. Cherrie - May 15, 2008 7:21 PM
OMFG are you serious?? Holy tar I just realized I'm not 12 anymore, and I probably wouldn't go and see it for free. Just like they tried to vamp up Speed Racer (lmao it's like being stabbed in the eyes with rainbows) to attract kids today all they did is fuck it up.
5. Pat - May 15, 2008 10:11 PM
Remember the Goosebumps TV show? Was that even successful? Why make a movie out of a children's book series that had a barely-noticed TV show?
Why not one of those tween RL Stine books whose covers were sexy enough for an 11 year-old to masturbate to, like Beach Party or Beach Party II or Beach Party III: Wild Beach Orgy Death Party? And The Babysitter I-V would make a seriously awesome movie.
Oh, and what about RL Stine's "adult" book, Superstitions? -- which I read in 6th grade and recognized even at that age as the stupidest piece of immature crap ever written, shortly before I returned to my Han Solo novels.
6. delic8 - May 19, 2008 8:11 PM
It was hardly barely noticed--a lot of people I knew watched it, as did I. The show was roughly the same quality as the books, which is to say extremely variable--some things are just stupid no matter what medium they are expressed in.
As for the movie--even if it sucks beyond all suckassittude, at least it will make a great Blogger Beware post.
7. kc - May 20, 2008 1:50 PM
i'm in my 20's, i adored goosebumps, and i totally would see it in the theatres..if they targeted my age instead of fuckin pre-teens. which they probably will not..:(