Goosebumps (film)

Goosebumps is an upcoming 2015 American comedy horror fantasy film directed by Rob Letterman and written by Mike White and Darren Lemke.^[2] It is based on the children's book series of the same name by R. L. Stine. The film stars Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Jillian Bell and Ryan Lee. The film is scheduled to be released on October 16, 2015, by Columbia Pictures.

Plot

After moving into a small town, a teenage boy named Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) meets Hannah (Odeya Rush), his new neighbor. Hannah's father, R. L. Stine (Jack Black), who writes the Goosebumps stories, keeps all the ghosts and monsters in the series locked up in his books. When Zach unintentionally releases the ghouls and the monsters from the storybooks, Zach, Hannah, and Stine team up in order to put the monsters back where they came from, before it's too late.^[3]

Cast

Jack Black "fighting" monsters at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International

• Jack Black as R. L. Stine^[3]
• Dylan Minnette as Zach Cooper^[4]
• Odeya Rush as Hannah Stine^[5]
• Avery Jones as Slappy the Dummy^[6]
• Amy Ryan^[7]
• Ryan Lee^[8]
• Ken Marino as Coach Carr^[9]
• Jillian Bell^[7]
• Halston Sage^[10]
• Steven Krueger as Davidson^[11]
• E. Roger Mitchell^[12]
• Timothy Simons^[13]
• Amanda Lund^[13]
• R. L. Stine^[14]

Production

The first attempt at a Goosebumps film was in 1998, which Tim Burton was going to produce. Chris Meledandri, the president of Fox Family Films at the time, said, "I think you'll see us tackling a scale of story that would be prohibitive to do on the small screen",^[15] but the film did not materialize. In 2008, Columbia Pictures acquired rights to create a Goosebumps film.^[16] Neal Moritz and Deborah Forte, the latter of whom developed the TV series, were chosen to produce the film.^[17] Screenwriting team Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were hired as screenwriters^[18] and wrote the original script for the film. The duo decided against adapting any one book in the series, feeling the individual books in the series were too short. Thinking of ways to create a universe where all the creatures in the books could live together, they elected to do a fake biographical film where R. L. Stine writes a book and the monsters within it become real.^[19] In 2010, Carl Ellsworth was chosen to write the screenplay.^[20] On January 14, 2012, it was reported that a new draft of the screenplay will be written by Darren Lemke; Lemke co-wrote the screenplays for Shrek Forever After and Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer.^[21] In November 2012, Stine expressed pessimism about the prospect of the film, saying that he will believe that a film can be based on his Goosebumps series when he sees it. He mentioned Where the Wild Things Are being adapted into a film almost 50 years after publication.^[22]

The film marks the third collaboration between Jack Black and director Rob Letterman who worked together on Shark Tale and Gulliver's Travels

In September 2013, it was reported that Jack Black was in talks to "play a Stine-like author whose scary characters literally leap off the page, forcing him to hide from his own creepy creations."^[23] Black stated that he tried to make the character "more of a sort of curmudgeonly dark, brooding beast master." He also said that he attempted to approach this film the same way he does other films, stating he tried to "make it as funny as possible."^[24] Black met with R. L. Stine to get his consent for the film, but determined that his character could not be too similar to the real one; Black explained that he needed the character to be more sinister.^[25] Rob Letterman was also confirmed as the director, which would reunite him with Black, after working together on Shark Tale and Gulliver's Travels.^[23]

It was announced in February 2014 that Dylan Minnette was cast as Zach Cooper,^[26] and Odeya Rush was cast as the Stine-like author's daughter, Hannah.^[3] On February 26, 2014, it was announced that the film would be released on March 23, 2016.^[27][28] On April 4, 2014, it was announced Amy Ryan and Jillian Bell had joined the cast as Cooper's mother and aunt respectively.^[7] On April 10, 2014, Ken Marino joined the cast as Coach Carr.^[9] On April 28, 2014, Halston Sage joined the cast.^[10] On May 1, 2014, the film's release date was moved up to August 7, 2015.^[29] Stine stated on May 20, 2014 that he was going to make a cameo appearance in the film.^[14] On July 25, 2014, at Comic-Con it was confirmed that Slappy the Dummy, The Executioner from A Night in Terror Tower, the giant praying mantises from A Shocker on Shock Street, Murder the Clown from When Ghost Dogs Howl and The Horror at Chiller House, The Mummy from Curse of the Mummy's Tomb and Return of the Mummy, and The Scarecrow from The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight would all appear in the film.^[30] The film crew had to cut some monsters from the books for budget reasons, but Letterman stated that the crew tried to choose the monsters most appropriate to the story. Letterman also stated he tried to combine both humor and horror in the film, commenting that "[t]he books themselves are legitimately scary, but they’re legitimately funny, and we try to capture that."^[25] In November 2014, the release date was moved back to April 15, 2016.^[31] In January 2015, the release date was pushed forward to October 16, 2015.^[32][33]

Filming

In mid-April 2014, a crew of six spent three days gathering visual data for the film in downtown Madison, Georgia. The crew used a theodolite to collect points in three-dimensional space to complete a detailed survey of the city. The visual data will be used to create a CGI background of the downtown.^[34] Neal Moritz and Rob Letterman stated that Madison was their first choice for the film after scouting the city.^[35] Principal photography on the film began on April 23, 2014 in Candler Park in Atlanta;^[36] they were also set shoot the film in Conyers and Madison.^[3] On May 19, filming was taking place in the streets of Madison,^[37] with 480 Goosebumps crew members working in Madison and Morgan County.^[35] Principal photography ended on July 16, 2014.^[38] A stretch of Dawsonville Highway in Georgia was intermittently closed to film a car travelling up and down multiple bridges for the film.^[39]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Goosebumps Panel at the 2014 Comic-Con International.

• Goosebumps at the Internet Movie Database
• Goosebumps at Box Office Mojo
• Goosebumps at Rotten Tomatoes
• Goosebumps at Metacritic