I’ve heard really good things about the Goosebumps movie, and how it captured the fun and spookiness of R.L. Stine’s horror novels. I didn’t see it because Jack Black, but maybe that will be rectified before the sequel arrives. The followup has just landed a new director and it’s Ari Sandel, who did a great job on the high school comedy, The Duff.
Sandel seems like a no-brainer pick to me, but it seems Sony has one big question left unanswered: Will Jack Black return to play author R.L. Stine? Over the last few months we’ve heard of scheduling conflict that threatens to force him out, and apparently Sony has ordered up parallel scripts, one featuring Stine and one where he doesn’t appear. Sony really wants to trim costs, too, and if they don’t have Black’s star power that might be a smart idea.
We’ll see what happens. Goosebumps 2 is set to open September 21st 2018. [Variety]
