Goosebumps Movie Gets Writers

Who would have ever thought that Hollywood’s latest and greatest movie targets would be literate teens? Yup, it’s true. After the Harry Potter films, there’s Twilight, and coming soon, Goosebumps the movie. All three projects are based on young adult novels popular with — gasp! — reading American teens. Wow, never thought I’d get the chance to write THAT. Anyways, Columbia Pictures have found two writers to take a stab at their feature-length version of R.L. Stine’s popular “Goosebumps” books, which have been made into TV movies and direct-to-DVD features, but have never gotten the big screen treatment.

THR has more:

Writing duo Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander are in negotiations to write the live-action big-screen adaptation of the children’s horror series “Goosebumps” for Columbia Pictures.

Neal Moritz and his Sony-based Original Film shingle is producing as is Scholastic Entertainment’s Deborah Forte.

Karaszewski and Alexander are expected to close their deal this week.

While straight-to-video versions of the R.L. Stine book series have been made, the project will mark the first feature adaptation of the series and could become a franchise for Columbia, which acquired the rights in May.

The “Goosebumps” series — which comprises more than 50 books that often pay homage to classic sci-fi/horror movies such as “Night of the Living Dead” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” as well as the twist endings of “The Twilight Zone” — have grossed hundreds of millions for Stine and Scholastic, second only to the “Harry Potter” series. Stine recently published a new 12-book series, “Goosebumps in HorrorLand,” and Scholastic plans to launch a video game in the fall.

It looks like they’re eyeing a young cast of unknowns for the parts. The writers, meanwhile, have written “Ed Wood,” “Man on the Moon” and “The People vs. Larry Flynt” in the past, including last year’s surprise hit, the Stephen King movie “1408″.