R.L. Stine — Movies, TV and Fear Street
Several new projects have the name R.L. Stine attached. MTV has picked up a 10-episode series based on his title for adults, Eye Candy (RH/Ballantine, 2004; cover, above; initial series logo to right, featuring a shot of Brooklyn’s trendy DUMBO neighborhood).
The pilot was directed by Catherine Hardwicke (the first Twilight movie), who is exec. producer of the series. It stars Victoria Justice as a hacker being pursued by a cyber stalker (The Hollywood Reporter, 2/11/14). No news yet on when it will premiere.
A new film adaptation of his Goosebumps series (Scholastic) is gearing up for production, as evidenced by several new casting announcements. The latest addition is Dylan Minnette, to co-star with Jack Black, who was announced back in September. Minette will play Zach Cooper, who moves with his family to a new town where their neighbor is, in a twist, R.L. Stine himself (played by Black). Odeya Rush is set to play Stine’s niece Hannah.
Meanwhile, Scholastic recently relaunched the Goosebumps series, with Goosebumps Most Wanted (Scholastic) which Stine describes as “a new book series featuring all of my most-wanted villains and most-wanted stories.”
His Fear Street series is also set for relaunch (the result of a Twitter campaign), beginning with Party Games in October from Macmillan/St. Martin’s.
UPDATE: Entertainment Weekly previews the cover of Party Games (at right)