'Are You Afraid of the Dark' Movie Release Date, News: Film to Premiere Near 2019 Halloween Season
The first movie adaptation of Nickelodeon's horror series "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" finally has a release date. Earlier this week, Paramount announced that the movie will be released a few weeks ahead of the Halloween season in 2019.
When Paramount unveiled the project last month, the movie did not have a release date yet. However, the studio confirmed that "IT" writer Gary Dauberman had been tapped to pen the script for the film, with Matt Kaplan co-producing with Dauberman.
Dauberman reportedly retooled the script for the 2017 horror hit from the draft written by Cary Fukunaga and Chase Palmer. The screenwriter is a veteran in the horror genre, having penned the scripts for some of Hollywood's biggest horror films like New Line's "The Conjuring" and its spinoffs, "Annabelle: Creation" and "The Nun." He will also return to write the script for the "IT" sequel, which is expected to hit theaters in 2019.
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Originally created by D.J. MacHale and Ned Kandel, "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" aired on Nickelodeon between 1992 and 1996, and it is one of the most popular horror anthology series at the time. Its story revolved around a group of youngsters who called themselves the Midnight Society. Every week, they would meet at a secret hideout in the woods to set up a campfire and trade scary tales. It basically tackled all sorts of supernatural elements, from ghosts to witches. After it ended its run in 1996, it was revived in 1999 for two more seasons.
Last month, Dauberman revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that the upcoming movie would be darker than the original show. "The show is about the shared experience of telling stories—especially scary ones. We're going to celebrate that with this movie and honor the darker, scarier tone of the show, which was really groundbreaking for Nickelodeon at the time. I hope the midnight society approves," he said.
"Are You Afraid of the Dark" will hit theaters on Oct. 11, 2019.
