R.L. Stine Goosebumps movie reps have moved closer to landing a director in Monsters vs. Aliens helmsman Rob Letterman, Deadline reported on Tuesday.
Sony Pictures, Scholastic Entertainment, and producer Neal H. Moritz were drawn to Letterman based on his few but successful family features, especially his animated hits, though there was no indication on Tuesday that Goosebumps would be an animated film .
( Monster House , anyone?)
Letterman’s directorial efforts, which also include Gulliver’s Travels (the Jack Black version) and Shark Tale , have grossed a total of $400 million in US box office alone , according to IMDb .
While a writer has yet to be picked for the project, Letterman could be in the running for that as well.
His script for The Disappeared attracted Aggregate, Jason Bateman’s company, and Brian Grazer picked up Paranormalists , so Letterman is no stranger to things that go bump in the night.
Goosebumps movie plans are long overdue after a four-season, 74-episode TV run from 1995 to 1998 and sales north of 350 million copies for the original books , noted CNN in 2012.
Stine was once the bestselling children’s author of all time, but has since been surpassed by J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter series.
Rowling brought her series to a close in 2007 and decided to move into the adult market before announcing in late 2012 that her next book would once again be for children .
Goosebumps , however, has remained going strong.
With close to 200 titles, the series has continually sold well since it first appeared in 1992. In fact, as BloombergBusinessweek stated in 2010, at the height of the series’ popularity, it was moving close to four million copies per month.
How the entire Harry Potter series could have already gone from page to screen while Goosebumps has taken more than two decades to develop, is anyone’s guess.
Will you be buying a ticket for the R.L. Stine Goosebumps movie when it comes to a theater near you?
