That’s the question that will soon be posed by Paramount and Gary Dauberman, the screenwriter who recently helped conjure up a bona fide horror hit in It – to date, New Line’s adaptation has amassed $683 million at the global box office, while there’s also plans in place for Chapter Two in 2019.
In terms of Are You Afraid of the Dark, though, The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Paramount and Dauberman have now drafted up plans for an overly faithful adaptation of the cult Nickelodeon series, which originally spanned five seasons throughout the ’90s. It’ll also hone in on the show’s “scarier, darker” elements, too, as Gary Dauberman told THR:
The show is about the shared experience of telling stories — especially scary ones. We’re going to celebrate that with this movie and honor the darker, scarier tone of the show, which was really groundbreaking for Nickelodeon at the time. I hope the Midnight Society approves.
Given his previous credits include Annabelle: Creation, Gary Dauberman is a fine choice to spearhead this new adaptation, though it’s unclear if the feature film will retain the anthology format that defined Are You Afraid of the Dark? all throughout the ’90s.
Back then, the Nickelodeon horror series piggybacked on the success of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps, and with Sony planning a Goosebumps sequel for 2018, it looks certain that both properties will be competing for the lion’s share of the horror pie once again. A rising tide lifts all boats, as the old saying goes.
Meanwhile, New Line’s wildly successful It will soon haunt Blu-ray and DVD with 11 deleted scenes and more special features than you can shake a red balloon at.
