Big Screen Goosebumps Are on the Way

R.L Stine’s young-adult series Goosebumps is heading to the big screen, as Columbia Pictures has just acquired the rights from Scholastic Media, reports Variety.

Despite selling 300 million books worldwide, Goosebumps has never been adapted for the big screen, although did spawn a live-action TV series in the 90s. Scholastic’s Deborah Forte is producing alongside Neal Moritz via his Sony-based Original Film banner.

“Numerous people have tried to bring Goosebumps to the big screen, but luckily Scholastic never found the right fit,” said Moritz, who is better known for producing action fare such as The Fast and the Furious films, though he has the young-adult project Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day in development at Sony. “I’ve been a huge fan of the property for a long time. I met with Deborah several times and convinced her that Original and Sony were the best place to take it.”

The studio is fast-tracking the project and is focusing on finding a writer. Moritz said they likely will cast unknown child actors and then pepper the film with well-known actors in supporting roles - much like Warner did with the Harry Potter franchise.

Some of the books in the series include: Welcome to Dead House, Night of the Living Dummy, Say Cheese and Die, It Came From Beneath the Sink and The Ghost Next Door.