Paramount’s adaptation of Nickelodeon series Are You Afraid of the Dark?, which was set for release in October 2019, is now without a release date. The film was set to hit theaters at the same time as a small screen miniseries revival of the TV show, and Paramount had only recently changed its release date to swap with Will Smith-led sci-fi action movie Gemini Man.
Running for seven seasons between 1990 and 2000, airing on YTV in its native Canada and on Nickelodeon in the U.S., Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a serious piece of nostalgia for nineties kids. The show’s anthology horror stories were told around a campfire by a group of teens who dubbed themselves The Midnight Society, who would take it in turns to throw “midnight dust” into the fire and then tell the scariest story they could think of. D.J. Caruso was in talks to direct from a script by Gary Dauberman and BenDavid Grabinski.
Now, Box Office reports that among a handful of Paramount release date changes, Are You Afraid of the Dark? is no longer hitting theaters on October 4th, 2019. No new release date has been revealed yet, which means that we could end up having to wait until next year for the film. It’s unclear if this will have any impact on Nickelodeon’s TV miniseries, which was originally reported to be set for a timed release alongside the movie.
Are You Afraid of the Dark? had a number of particularly scary and memorable episodes, like “The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner” and “The Tale of the Super Specs,” but the film will tell an original story not based on any of the TV show’s episodes. It’s possible that Paramount’s decision to delay the release has something to do with André Øvredal’s adaptation of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark releasing just a couple of months earlier, on August 9th, and the studio wanting to avoid a clash. Perhaps more likely is that Are You Afraid of the Dark? has suffered a production delay, since it hasn’t (as far as we’re aware) begun filming yet.
Horror aimed at younger audiences and/or featuring plucky groups of kids has seen a resurgence in recent years, with the popularity of Stranger Things and the recent big screen adaptation of IT. Last year saw the release of a second movie based on R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books, which were also adapted as a TV show in the nineties. Are You Afraid of the Dark? could make for another strong addition to the genre… if Paramount could only decide on a release date.
