Following the successful debut of one of the franchises last year, R.L. Stine has given a promising update on new Goosebumps and Fear Street movies. Stine launched the former book series in 1992, with each of the 62 entries revolving around young kids who found themselves caught up in the midst of a supernatural threat. Having sold over 400 million books worldwide since its debut, the Goosebumps franchise is the second-best-selling book series in history behind J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and has expanded to other mediums, including the live-action '90s TV series and two films in the 2010s starring Jack Black as a fictionalized Stine.
Fear Street first hit shelves in 1989 and carried a similar formula to the Goosebumps books, albeit taking a much more mature approach as they focused on teenagers in the fictional town of Shadyside as they dealt with a variety of supernatural threats, some of which resulted in gruesome deaths. Amidst a couple of hiatuses, Stine has penned 51 mainline novels as well as multiple spinoffs, all of which have sold over 80 million copies. Fear Street would get its due on screen with a trilogy of films co-written and directed by Leigh Janiak, which was initially set at 20th Century Fox though was later acquired by Netflix and released across three consecutive weeks in mid-2021.
In a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment exploring the 30th anniversary of the fan-favorite book series, R.L Stine offered an update on new Goosebumps and Fear Street movies. The beloved author confirmed he has heard talks about both franchises having possible futures and expressing his surprise at how Netflix's Fear Street movies turned out. See what Stine shared below:
"There's still talk about more Goosebumps movies, and I also hear rumors about more Fear Street movies for Netflix, because the first ones did so well last summer. Those films kind of shocked me, because they were all R-rated, and I've never done anything R-rated! All those teenagers were getting slashed. I was like, 'Suddenly, I have a slasher movie!'"
Stine's discussion of hearing talks of more Goosebumps movies comes a few months after it was announced Disney+ had entered development on a new live-action TV adaptation of the iconic novels. The series is set to mark the second major collaboration between Stine and the House of Mouse's streaming platform, following the well-received series adaptation of the author's Just Beyond graphic novels. The pilot for the new Goosebumps series has been penned by Nick Stoller and Rob Letterman, the latter of whom directed the first Jack Black-led film.
While some are sure to be intrigued at the possibility of more Goosebumps films, it's Stine's note that has heard rumors of Netflix working on more Fear Street movies that's sure to come as exciting news for fans of the R-rated horror trilogy. As the author notes, the Fear Street trilogy proved to be a hit with critics and audiences alike for its nostalgic setting, subversions of classic horror genres and its LGBTQ+ representation, and with director Leigh Janiak having previously confirmed ideas for more movies and the credits of Part Three: 1666 seeing an unknown figure taking the satanic book, the door is open for Netflix to keep the franchise alive. In the meantime, audiences can revisit both the Fear Street trilogy and original Goosebumps series streaming on Netflix now.
Source: Yahoo! Entertainment