Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Sequel Moving Forward

Get ready for more Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. According to a new update from The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount and Entertainment One are collaborating on a sequel to the 2019 horror movie, with much of the creative team set to return. Andre Ovredal will be returning to direct the sequel, with Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman penning the script, and Guillermo del Toro writing the screen story. Del Toro previously served as a producer on the first film.

The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark franchise is inspired by a series of short stories by Alvin Schwartz, with multiple tales making their way into the first film. While adapting such an iconic franchise brought challenges, it ultimately paid off, with a gross of over $105 million at the worldwide box office.

“I believe it’s making these characters that are black-and-white drawings come alive in a way that we could really have fans embrace them.” Ovredal previously told ComicBook.com of the challenges of the first film. “That always is a huge challenge. And I think we really, we were very focused on making sure that they were really based in the drawings, and then we had to do some things because it’s a color film and we’re not doing it in black-and-white.”

“So we had to also do some trickery there to ensure that you have that balance, so it stays truthful to the characters in the books, but still lives in a modern film.” Ovredal continued. “So that balance was tricky.”

“What we wanted was to try to emulate with the creatures, the black and white feeling of the illustrations in the book,” del Toro added in a previous interview. “So we knew we wanted them drained of color. You know? We tried to make them parchment yellow, sort of nicotine yellow and white. So we went for the desaturation in the pictures, all of them. And obviously you light them differently.”

And while there’s no telling which tales will factor into the Scary Stories sequel, there’s certainly a lot of ground to still be covered.

“There is ‘High Beams,’ [Ovredal] wants very bad,” del Toro shared with ComicBook.com. “And ‘The Ribbon,’ I love. I think it’s also one of those, the outcome of that story is so memorable, and it’s very, very short. Has such a great visual gag.”

What do you think of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark getting a sequel? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!