We have some of our first official details regarding theAre You Afraid of the Dark?movie. We learned last year that Paramount had tappedITandAnnabelle: Creationscreenwriter Gary Dauberman to adapt the popular Nickelodeon kid-friendly horror series from the 90s for the big screen. Now, Dauberman has dished on some of what to expect from the upcoming adaptation.
Gary Dauberman wrote the latest chapter inThe Conjuringuniverse,The Nun, which just made its way to theaters this weekend. During a recent interview to promote the movie, he revealed what he could about theAre You Afraid of the Dark?movie. First and foremost, it will feature the classic format of theMidnight Societytelling a story around a campfire. But that story won’t be adapted from the series. Instead, it’s going to be something totally original. Here’s what Dauberman had to say.
“It is a completely original story I came up with, but it still has the Midnight Society and it still has the campfire. It’s still a story being told.”
This is probably the best case scenario. It sounds very much like this is going toretain the elements that made the show memorablewhile giving us a totally new story to chew on. And when Gary Dauberman is firing on all cylinders, he knows how to deliver the goods. Speaking further, the writer reveals that he doesn’t intend to pull any punches, even though the original series was aimed at younger audiences.
“That show is so important to me. I didn’t want to age it down too much because for it’s time, it had some really disturbing episodes and some really dark episodes. Not every story the Midnight Society told ended with happily ever after or a person learning their lesson and it will never happen again. I really embraced that side of things and I think it’s been a long time. I think fear is healthy for kids. I don’t think we have to always sand down the edges of things and that’s something I really wanted to do with Are You Afraid of the Dark. I think it is scary and I think kids will be scared watching it at times, and also they’ll laugh at times. I think it’s got a great message. I think it’s got a great heart to it but it is still scary. I think that’s great. I think it’s going to open it up to a wider audience.”
At the present time, there is no director attached toAre You Afraid of the Dark?Gary Dauberman is producing in addition to his screenwriting duties. Dauberman is gearing up to directAnnabelle 3, which marks his directorial debut, which pretty much takes him out of the running. Paramount has already locked down an June 13, 2025, release date, so we should be hearing word on who will end up in the director’s chair soon enough. This news originated over atSlash Film.
