If Sony gets its way, Jack Black and company may be giving audiences Goosebumps for years to come, producer Neal Moritz revealed during a recent interview with Collider’s Matt Goldberg.
During their conversation, Moritz touched on the various reasons he wanted to adapt R.L. Stine’s long-running juvenile horror book series for the big screen and noted that he sees the potential for multiple films involving the human and monster character that will be introduced this fall:
I mean, I absolutely, absolutely loved making this first movie. I loved the kids, I loved Jack, I loved working with [director] Rob [Letterman], I think we all just completely saw eye to eye on what it should be and yes I would love to make another one of these. I think we have some great ideas for it but until we see how audiences react to this I just can’t tell you what’s gonna happen… We have a great idea that expands Goosebumps if we’re lucky enough to make another one.
According to Moritz, though, early reaction screenings have been remarkably encouraging:
I can honestly say that all the screenings we’ve had, all the research we’ve done, the movie has definitely surpassed what people’s expectations were, what it was gonna be, and I think that it has a lot to do with the fact that there is just a great idea at the center of it, and I thinks it’s really fun, I think the movie is fun but scary. And I think leach kid feels like they gain a badge of courage when they’ve made it through the movie, they’re like, “Yeah that was scary, but I made it through it, I’m so proud of myself.”
Moritz elaborated on that, expressing his sentiment that audiences are going to respond to Goosebumps in a big way:
I think that we really tried to make a movie for a wide audience, people who grew up with them and have a nostalgia factor for the books, as well as the people who are reading them for the first time today. And I think it really satisfies that, what we’ve learned from our screenings is parents who read the books as kids love the movie and they’re [sic] kids love the movie. It’s been really a very, very rewarding experience in the fact that people just love the movie and we really feel like our best asset is showing the movie, so we’re gonna show it a lot before it comes out.
In addition to Black, Goosebumps stars Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush. Neither young actor has hit it big yet, but it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if they were locked into additional films – and judging by how quickly teen actors seem to hit the big time nowadays, either one of them could serve as yet another reason to make a Goosebumps sequel. Add in that there’s a wealth of book material to work from, and it’s almost surprising that a follow-up hasn’t seen the green light already.
Goosebumps opens October 16.
