Goosebumps (film)

Plot

Zach Cooper and his mother Gale move to the town of Madison, Delaware. While settling in, Zach meets his new neighbor Hannah and her overprotective father "Mr. Shivers."

Zach and Hannah become quick friends, but Mr. Shivers warns Zach to stay on his side of the fence. At Madison High School where Gale works as the vice-principal, Zach befriends Champ, a socially awkward student. Later that evening, Hannah comes to Zach and takes him to an abandoned amusement park out in the woods where they watch the sun set together on top of the ferris wheel. When they get back home, Mr. Shivers appears and again warns Zach to stay away from them or something bad would happen.

The next night, Zach hears Mr. Shivers and Hannah arguing, followed by Hannah screaming and something crashing. Zach calls the police, but Mr. Shivers assures the officers that the noise came from his television. Fearing Hannah is in danger, Zach tricks Mr. Shivers into going to the police station for further questioning and breaks into his house with Champ's help. The two find a shelf containing many Goosebumps manuscripts, all of which are locked. Frustrated by Champ's curiosity, Zach unlocks one of the books. When Hannah discovers them, Zach drops the book, releasing the Abominable Snowman of Pasadena. They pursue the Abominable Snowman to an ice skating rink, where Mr. Shivers appears and imprisons it back into the book.

On the way home, Mr. Shivers reveals that he is Goosebumps author R.L. Stine. He created the stories as a child to terrorize the people that made fun of him, but the monsters came to life and became uncontrollable, so he trapped them in the manuscripts. Returning to the house, they find Slappy from "Night of the Living Dummy" (who was freed after the Abominable Snowman knocked over his book) waiting for them. Angry at being imprisoned, Slappy burns his own manuscript and flees with the others in the Haunted Car (after releasing it from its self-titled book) after unlocking the book "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes". They are attacked by the living lawn gnomes. When Stine and the kids try to smash them, each of the gnomes reform, making them realize that they can only run away.

Slappy releases several monsters, letting them rampage under his command. Zach suggests Stine to write a new book that will trap every monster, but he can only do it with his special typewriter which is at the high school. On the way there, Brent Green from "My Best Friend is Invisible" and the giant praying mantis from "A Shocker on Shock Street" attack Stine's car, so they are forced into hiding. Will Blake's werewolf form from "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" pursues them into an abandoned supermarket, only to be run over by Zach's aunt Lorraine in the parking lot.

As they cut through the cemetery, Zach notices that Hannah glows blue in the moonlight, revealing her not to be an actual teenage girl. They are then chased by the Graveyard Ghouls from "Attack of The Graveyard Ghouls," but manage to escape. When they arrive at the school which is having a school dance, Zach privately questions Stine about Hannah. Stine reveals that she is a Goosebumps character (from "The Ghost Next Door") he created to cope with his loneliness, of which she is seemingly unaware. Stine finds the typewriter and starts writing a new story based on the events around them while Zach, Hannah, and Champ lead the students at the dance in fending off all the released monsters that are storming the building. Champ manages to get his crush to kiss him after he saves her from Will Blake when Davidson abandons her. Slappy confronts Stine and breaks his fingers with the typewriter case before the story is finished.

Stine, Zach, Champ and Hannah use one school buses to trick the monsters, and ride another one to go to the abandoned amusement park. There, Slappy lets out the big pink blob from "The Blob that Ate Everyone." Stine hands the book and typewriter to Zach, and distracts the blob by allowing it to capture him. Zach finishes the story on top of the ferris wheel which is then attacked by the praying mantis and it rolls down toward where the bus is parked. They get out alive, but Zach is reluctant to open the book because Hannah will also be sucked inside it. Revealing she knew the truth about herself all along, Hannah opens the book, sucking all the other monsters into it. The blob spits Stine out as it is sucked in. Stine is then attacked by an enraged Slappy, but he manages to kick him into the vortex. Zach tries to hold on to Hannah as the book attempts to suck her in, but she accepts her fate and bids farewell to Zach with a kiss before she is also sucked in.

Sometime later, Stine has started working as Zach's English teacher and is in a relationship with Lorraine. After class, Zach asks Stine if he misses Hannah. Stine says she will always be in their minds and hearts, and then points down the hallway where to Zach's surprise and delight, Hannah is standing. Stine reveals to Zach that he wrote her back into reality with another book. Hannah and Zach kiss and leave school together while Stine burns Hannah's manuscript, making her permanently real. As Stine prepares to leave Madison High School, he sees the typewriter typing by itself inside its display case. To Stine's horror, Brent Green has evaded imprisonment and begins writing a new story titled "The Invisible Boy's Revenge."

Cast

Development

The first attempt at a Goosebumps film, in 1998, was set to be produced by Tim Burton. Chris Meledandri, the president of Fox 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". However, the film did not materialize since they could not find a script they liked or determine which book or monster to adapt. In 2008, Columbia Pictures acquired rights to create a Goosebumps film. Neal Moritz and Deborah Forte, the latter of whom had previously worked on the TV series, were chosen to produce the film. Screenwriting team Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were hired as screenwriters, 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 fake biographical film where R. L. Stine writes a book and the monsters within it become real. In 2010, Carl Ellsworth was chosen to write the screenplay. 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 for Shrek Forever After and Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer. In November 2012, Stine expressed pessimism about the prospect of the film, saying that he would believe that a film can be based on his Goosebumps series when he sees it. He mentioned Where the Wild Things Are being adapted into a film almost 50 years after publication.

Casting

In September 2013, it was reported that Jack 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". 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". 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. Rob Letterman was chosen as the director, reuniting him with Black, after working together on Shark Tale and Gulliver's Travels.

It was announced in February 2014 that Dylan Minnette had been cast as Zach Cooper, and Odeya Rush as Stine-like author's daughter, Hannah. On February 26, 2014, it was announced that the film would be released on March 23, 2016. On April 4, 2014, it was announced that Amy Ryan and Jillian Bell had joined the cast as Cooper's mother and aunt respectively. On April 10, 2014, Ken Marino joined the cast as Coach Carr. On April 28, 2014, Halston Sage joined the cast. On May 1, 2014, the film's release date was moved up to August 7, 2015. Stine stated on May 20, 2014, that he was going to make a cameo appearance in the film.

The film was promoted at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International where Jack Black and Rob Letterstein interacted with Slappy the Dummy. Slappy even brought out some of his "friends" out consisting of the Bog Monster from "How to Kill a Monster," two Graveyard Ghouls from "Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls, Cronby the Cave Troll and a Mulgani from "Deep in the Jungle of Doom," the Lord High Executioner from "A Night in Terror Tower," Murder the Clown from "A Nightmare on Clown Street," the Mummy of Prince Kho-Ru from "Return of the Mummy," Captain Long Ben One-Leg from "Creep from the Deep," Professor Shock from "The Creepy Creations of Professor Shock," Count Nightwing from "Vampire Breath," the Creep from "Calling All Creeps," a Body Squeezer from "Invasion of the Body Squeezers" Pt. 1 and 2, Carly Beth Cadwell's Haunted Mask form from "The Haunted Mask," the Scarecrow from "The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight," and the Pumpkinhead from "Attack 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.

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". In November 2014, the release date was moved back to April 15, 2016. In January 2015, the release date was pushed forward to October 16, 2015.

Filming

In mid-April 2014, a crew of six spent three days gathering visual data for the film in downtown Madison, Georgia. The crew used a theodolite to collect points in three-dimensional space to complete a detailed survey of the city. The visual data was used to create a CGI background of the downtown. Neal Moritz and Rob Letterman stated that Madison was their first choice for the film after scouting the city. Principal photography on the film began on April 23, 2014 in Candler Park in Atlanta; they were also set to shoot the film in Conyers and Madison. On May 19, filming was taking place in the streets of Madison, with 480 Goosebumps crew members working in Madison and Morgan County. Principal photography ended on July 16, 2014. A stretch of Dawsonville Highway in Georgia was intermittently closed to film a car travelling up and down multiple bridges for the film.

Music and soundtrack

The Soundtrack for the film, featuring original music composed by Danny Elfman, was released on CD on October 23, 2015, by Sony Classical Records. The digital version was released by Madison Gate Records the week before.

Premiere

Goosebumps had its world premiere screening on June 24, 2015, at the CineEurope film distributors' trade fair in Barcelona, Spain, where the film was presented by Black on stage.

Home media

Goosebumps was released on Blu-ray (2D and 3D) and DVD 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.

Box office

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.

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. The film opened on October 16, 2015 alongside Bridge of Spies, Crimson Peak, and Woodlawn, however box office pundits noted that it did not face serious competition except for The Martian, which was entering its third week. It made $600,000 from its early Thursday night screenings at 2,567 theaters, and $7.4 million on its opening day. 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 with War Room, The Perfect Guy and Hotel Transylvania 2. Families represented the largest demographics with 60%, followed by under 25 with 59% and male/female ratio was split evenly at 50/50.

Outside North America, Goosebumps was released in a total of 66 countries. 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). It opened at No. 1 in the United Kingdom and Ireland ($3.9 million). In the United Kingdom, preview takings helped Goosebumps top the box office ahead of the more heavily hyped Dad's Army. In Russia, it opened at No. 2 behind In the Heart of the Sea with $1.27 million. Furthermore, it opened in France with $1 million.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 77% based on 146 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. 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." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 60 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Kevin P. Sullivan of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B rating, citing at the end of his review: "Nothing about Goosebumps is revolutionary—at a certain point you may realize that it's as if Nickelodeon produced Cabin 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".

Sequel

On September 2, 2015, it was reported that a sequel was in the planning stages, with Sony looking for a screenwriter. On January 17, 2017, a January 26, 2018, release date was set and Rob Letterman confirmed that he is to return as director for the sequel. On February 6, 2017, it was announced that the film's release date has been delayed to September 21, 2018, taking the place of the release date previously held by Hotel Transylvania 3. In May 2017, the title was revealed to be Goosebumps: Horrorland. It has also been confirmed that Jack Black will reprise his role as R.L. Stine. Filming will begin in October 2017.