| Goosebumps | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Rob Letterman |
| Screenplay by | Darren Lemke |
| Story by | Scott Alexander Larry Karaszewski |
| Based on | Goosebumps byR. L. Stine |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Javier Aguirresarobe |
| Edited by | Jim May |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $58–84 million[3][4] |
| Box office | $158.3 million[4] |
Goosebumps is a 2015 Americanhorror comedy film based onR. L. Stine'schildren's horror novel series of the same name. Directed byRob Letterman, with a screenplay byDarren Lemke, the film starsJack Black as a fictionalized and exaggerated version of R. L. Stine, who teams up with his new neighbor (Dylan Minnette) and his teenage daughter (Odeya Rush) to save their hometown after all the monsters from theGoosebumps franchise escape from his works, wreaking havoc in reality. It also featuresAmy Ryan,Ryan Lee andJillian Bell in supporting roles.
Development on aGoosebumps film adaptation began in the 1990s but the project stalled. In early 2008, Columbia acquired the rights.Principal photography lasted from April to July 2014 inCandler Park,Atlanta.
Goosebumps was theatrically released in the United States on October 16, 2015. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its humor, pacing and faithfulness to theGoosebumps franchise.
A sequel titledGoosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween was released on October 12, 2018.
Following his father's death, teenager Zach Cooper and his mother Gale move fromNew York City to Madison,Delaware, where Gale has a new job as the high school's vice-principal. Zach befriends neighbor Hannah and fellow student Champ. After getting to know her, Hannah's father warns Zach to stay away from her.
That night, Zach hears a terrified scream coming from Hannah's house and believes Hannah is in trouble. He calls the police to investigate, but her father convinces the police it is only surround sound. Gale leaves Zach with his aunt Lorraine while she supervises a school dance.
Fearing Hannah is in danger, Zach tricks her father into going to the police station while he and Champ infiltrate his house. They find locked manuscripts that catalog entries from theGoosebumps franchise. Zach unlocks the one catalogingThe Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, and its titular character emerges from it. They track the monster to an ice rink where Hannah's father re-imprisons it in the manuscript.
Hannah's father is revealed to beR. L. Stine, the disturbed genius behind theGoosebumps franchise. He originally began it to cope with severe bullying, but the monsters escaped into reality due to his overactive imagination, so he has to keep them imprisoned in their manuscripts. Back at Stine's house, the group encounterSlappy the Dummy, freed from his manuscript. Slappy incinerates the manuscript, leaving no way to re‑imprison him, and escapes with the others.
Slappy frees several monsters, causing havoc around Madison. Lorraine is attacked by vampiric poodle Fifi. Zach convinces Stine to recapture the monsters by writing a story, but it can only be done using his supernatural typewriter on display at the school. En route, the group is attacked by Brent Green and a giant mantis, forcing them to seek refuge in a grocery store. Will Blake chases them until he is run over by Lorraine.
They cut through a cemetery, where Zach sees Hannah becoming ghost-like in the moonlight before they are attacked by the Graveyard Ghouls. At the school, Stine reveals to Zach that his daughter is Hannah Fairchild fromThe Ghost Next Door, whom he created to cope with loneliness, although Hannah herself is oblivious. Stine starts writing a story while Zach and Champ warn everyone as the mantis attacks the building.
Slappy commands the rest of the monsters to attack the school to dispose of Stine. They break in and Slappy breaks Stine's fingers before he can finish the story. The four trick the monsters into following a school bus rigged with explosives while they board another and travel to the abandoned amusement park. Slappy tracks them down and releases the Blob as the other monsters arrive.
Stine is captured while Zach, Hannah and Champ take refuge on the park's ferris wheel, where Zach finishes the story before the mantis causes the structure to collapse and roll towards the forest. Zach hesitates to open the story's manuscript because Hannah will also be sucked in, but Hannah reveals she knew the truth all along. She opens it, bidding farewell to Zach as she and all the monsters are sucked inside.
Some time later, Stine begins working as a substitute teacher and starts a relationship with Lorraine. He reveals to Zach that he brought Hannah back by writing a new version of her book. As Zach and Hannah leave together, Stine incinerates the book but then finds his typewriter writing by itself. To his horror, Brent Green was omitted in the monsters' re‑imprisonment and prepared to take revenge on his creator.
The realR. L. Stine has a cameo role as Mr. Black (a play on the fact that R. L. Stine is played by Jack Black in the film), the drama teacher at Madison High School (credited as "Hallway Player").[5]
Kumail Nanjiani andLuka Jones appear as a pair ofmovers who encounter Slappy in an alternate opening sequence featured on home media releases.
In the mid-1990s,George A. Romero wrote a script for a film adaptation of the first originalGoosebumps bookWelcome to Dead House. It was rejected and was then kept atThe University of Pittsburgh.[6]
The popularity of theFox Kids'Goosebumps television series generated an interest among fans for a full-feature film based upon the show. In 1998,Tim Burton was attached to direct aGoosebumps film for20th Century Fox.Chris Meledandri, the president ofFox 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".[7] However, the film did not materialize since they could not find a script they liked or determine which book to adapt into a film.[8]
In 2008,Columbia Pictures acquired rights to create aGoosebumps film.[9]Neal Moritz andDeborah Forte, the latter of whom had previously worked on theGoosebumps television series in the 1990s, were chosen to produce the film.[10] Screenwriting teamScott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were hired as screenwriters,[11] 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 fakebiographical film where R. L. Stine writes a book and the monsters within it become real.[12] In 2010,Carl Ellsworth was chosen to write the screenplay.[13] On January 14, 2012, it was reported that a new draft of the screenplay would be written by Darren Lemke; Lemke co-wrote the screenplays forShrek Forever After andBryan Singer'sJack the Giant Slayer.[14] In November 2012, Stine expressed pessimism about the prospect of the film, saying that he would believe that a film can be based on hisGoosebumps series when he sees it. The screenplay was rated PG-13. He also mentionedWhere the Wild Things Are being adapted into a film almost 50 years after publication.[15]
In September 2013, it was reported thatJack 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".[16] 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 others, trying to "make it as funny as possible".[17] 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.[18]Rob Letterman was chosen as the director, reuniting him with Black, after working together onShark Tale andGulliver's Travels.[16]
It was announced in February 2014 thatDylan Minnette had been cast as Zach Cooper,[19] andOdeya Rush as the Stine-like author's daughter, Hannah.[20] On February 26, 2014, it was announced that the film would be released on March 23, 2016.[21][22] On April 4, 2014, it was announced thatAmy Ryan andJillian Bell had joined the cast as Cooper's mother and aunt respectively.[23] On April 10, 2014,Ken Marino joined the cast as Coach Carr.[24] On April 28, 2014,Halston Sage joined the cast.[25] On May 1, 2014, the film's release date was moved up to August 7, 2015.[26] Stine stated on May 20, 2014, that he was going to make acameo appearance in the film.[5]
The film was promoted at the 2014San Diego Comic-Con where Jack Black and Rob Letterman interacted with Slappy the Dummy. Slappy even brought some of his "friends" out consisting of the Bog Monster fromHow to Kill a Monster, two Graveyard Ghouls fromAttack of the Graveyard Ghouls, Cronby the Troll and a Mulgani fromDeep in the Jungle of Doom, the Lord High Executioner fromA Night in Terror Tower, Murder the Clown fromA Nightmare on Clown Street, the Mummy of Prince Khor-Ru fromReturn of the Mummy, Captain Long Ben One-Leg fromCreep from the Deep, Professor Shock fromThe Creepy Creations of Professor Shock, Count Nightwing fromVampire Breath, a Creep fromCalling All Creeps!, a Body Squeezer fromInvasion of the Body Squeezers: Part 1 andPart 2, Carly Beth Caldwell's Haunted Mask form fromThe Haunted Mask, a Scarecrow fromThe Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, and a Pumpkin Head fromAttack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns. When Jack Black tells Slappy that it is him that Slappy wants, Slappy instructs the Lord High Executioner, Murder the Clown, and Professor Shock to take Jack Black outside to his car. As the monsters leave, Slappy tells Rob some of his pitches causing Rob to leave as well.[27][28]
Some monsters due for an appearance in the film were cut for budgetary reasons, but Letterman stated that the crew tried to choose the monsters most appropriate to the story. Letterman also stated that 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".[18] In November 2014, the release date was moved back to April 15, 2016.[29] In January 2015, the release date was pushed forward to October 16, 2015.[30][31]
In mid-April 2014, a crew of six spent three days gathering visual data for the film in downtownMadison,Georgia. The crew used atheodolite to collect points in three-dimensional space to complete a detailed survey of the city. The visual data was used to create aCGI background of the downtown.[32] Neal Moritz and Rob Letterman stated that Madison was their first choice for the film after scouting the city.[33]Principal photography on the film began on April 23, 2014, inCandler Park inAtlanta, notably at 345 (Zach's house) and 337 (R.L.Stine's house) Mell Avenue NE;[34] they were also set to shoot the film inConyers and Madison.[20] On May 19, filming was taking place in the streets of Madison,[35] with 480Goosebumps crew members working in Madison andMorgan County.[33] Principal photography ended on July 16, 2014.[36] A stretch of Dawsonville Highway in Georgia was intermittently closed to film a car travelling up and down multiple bridges for the film.[37]
The soundtrack for the film, featuring original music composed byDanny Elfman, was released on CD on October 23, 2015, bySony Classical Records. The digital version was released byMadison Gate Records the week before.[38]
Goosebumps had its world premiere screening on June 24, 2015, at theCineEurope film distributors' trade fair inBarcelona, Spain, where the film was presented by Black on stage.[39]
Goosebumps was released onBlu-ray (2D and 3D) andDVD on January 26, 2016, and includes deleted scenes, a blooper reel, interviews with the cast and crew, an alternate opening, an alternate ending, and a featurette about Slappy.
Goosebumps grossed $80.1 million in North America and $70.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $150.2 million, against a budget of $58 million.[4]
In the United States and Canada, pre-release trackings indicated the film would open to between $20–31 million at 3,501 theaters. However, Sony was more conservative, and projected the film to take between $12–15 million.[40][41][42] The film opened on October 16, 2015, alongsideBridge of Spies,Crimson Peak, andWoodlawn, however box office pundits noted that it did not face serious competition except forThe Martian, which was entering its third week.[43] It made $600,000 from its early Thursday night screenings at 2,567 theaters, and $7.4 million on its opening day.[44][45] In its opening weekend the film grossed $23.5 million, beating studio projections and finishing first at the box office. It marked the fourth Sony film to reign at the top of the box office during the fall. Previously the studio scored No. 1 spots over the last seven weeks withWar Room,The Perfect Guy andHotel Transylvania 2.[46][47] Families represented the largest demographics with 60%, followed by under 25 with 59% and male/female ratio was split evenly at 50/50.[46]
Outside North America,Goosebumps was released in a total of 66 countries.[48] Mexico has so far represented its largest opening as well as the biggest market in terms of total earnings with $7.1 million followed by Australia ($6.3 million) and the United Kingdom and Ireland ($6 million).[48][49] It opened at No. 1 in the United Kingdom and Ireland ($3.9 million). In the United Kingdom, preview takings helpedGoosebumps top the box office ahead of the more heavily hypedDad's Army.[50] In Russia, it opened at No. 2 behindIn the Heart of the Sea with $1.27 million.[51] It opened in France with $1 million.[49]
OnRotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 78% based on 164 reviews, with an average rating of 6.38/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Goosebumps boasts more than enough of its spooky source material's kid-friendly charm to make up for some slightly scattershot humor and a hurried pace."[52] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 60 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[53] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[54]
Kevin P. Sullivan ofEntertainment Weekly gave the film a B rating, citing at the end of his review: "Nothing aboutGoosebumps is revolutionary—at a certain point you may realize that it's as ifNickelodeon producedCabin in the Woods—but it's a never-boring trip to a world, where stories and imagination are powerful tools, that just might inspire kids to do the scariest thing of all: pick up a book".[55]
Geoff Berkshire ofVariety wrote: "TheADD overload combined with an understandably kid-friendly approach to horror (no one’s ever in real danger, and the monsters are never too scary) results in a disposable product intended to appeal to everyone but likely to resonate with no one."[56]
| Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas Film Critics Society[57] | Best Family Film | Nominated | |
| Visual Effects Society | Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project | Jason Schugardt, Mike Wigart, Alex Harding, Daniel Mars | Nominated |
| Saturn Awards[58] | Best Fantasy Film | Nominated |
Development of a sequel was reported in September 2015. Rob Letterman intended to return to direct, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, andAri Sandel replaced him. Jack Black and Odeya Rush were set to reprise their roles as R. L. and Hannah Stine; Black's role was reduced to an uncredited cameo and Rush's role was ultimately cut.Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween was released in the United States on October 12, 2018.[59][60][61]
In April 2020, it was announced that a rebootlive-action television series was in the works byScholastic Entertainment,Sony Pictures Television Studios, andNeal H. Moritz's production companyOriginal Film, who produced the 2015 film and its sequel.[62] In March 2021, R.L. Stine stated that the series found a producer and director.[63] In February 2022, it was announced that the series will be heading toDisney+.[64]
