There must have been some concern among the Goosebumps team a couple of weeks ago when Disney Plus embarked on a highly specific content purge that saw episodic fantasy reboots derived from literary works that had already finished shooting end up being kicked out of the kingdom altogether.
The Spiderwick Chronicles was the first to go, and it was swiftly followed by Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea prequel Nautilus, leaving the R.L. Stine series that had already been the subject of two feature-length blockbusters as the only one left standing, which itself came shortly after small screen sequel Willow was removed from the content library entirely less than six months after premiering.
However, in what’s either a show of confidence or an admission of concern that viewing figures are more important than ever, Disney has dropped the first trailer for the Goosebumps do-over that confirms it’ll release on both its in-house streaming service and Hulu on the same day, which has been locked in as Oct. 13.
It was only yesterday we noted that a premiere in the lead-in to the spookiest date on the calendar felt like an inevitability, and there were already murmurings that Disney’s increasing stake in Hulu would see it play nice and potentially share the show with a platform that’s being welcomed more and more under its umbrella.
Of course, it remains to be see if Goosebumps gets a second season, but making it onto the airwaves at all has already seen it fare much better than its two spiritual contemporaries.
Published: Sep 7, 2023 10:46 am