In a world where superhero franchises often dominate other blockbuster combatants, horror has been one of the few places potential franchises flourish due to the tighter budget restrictions. Blumhouse alone has spawned several profitable series, including The Purge, Insidious, Happy Death Day, and their newly developing monster universe. Lionsgate is looking to start their own franchise with Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark 2, as the original opened last summer to strong reviews (78% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a healthy 68 million dollar box office gross.
According to Deadline, Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark 2 will be happening with director Andre Overdal returning to helm the project. While it has not been confirmed, it is also likely that producer Guillermo Del Toro will return to oversee the film’s production. Before breaking out with Scary Stories, Overdal made a name for himself with strong indie genre films like Trollhunters and The Autopsy of Jane Doe.
Considering the success of the original project, a sequel is certainly a no-brainer as the film doubled its 28 million dollar production budget. I was a fan of Scary Stories when it released last summer, as it did a good job of truncating several different anthology stories into one cohesive narrative. It will be interesting to see if this sequel decides to continue with the same characters from the original or embrace the source material’s anthology narrative approach.
Personally, I hope they opt for the latter. Part of what made the Scary Stories source material special is the different creative worlds Alvin Schwartz created with his novel, and it would be fun to see how Overdal would create these narratives while connecting them under one common idea. The anthology format has proven to have some success in horror (V/H/S is a good example), so it can certainly be done here.
Are you excited for Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark 2? Let us know in the comments!