Goosebumps 2

Is this the ultimate case of burying the lead?  For some time now, we’ve been operating under the impression that Jack Black would not be in the upcoming sequel ‘Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween’.  Black portrayed R.L. Stine, a fictionalized version of the real life author of the ‘Goosebumps’ novels and was for many the main draw for the first flick.  But with Sony/Columbia Pictures determined to get ‘Haunted Halloween’ out in time for this Halloween, it didn’t appear that they would be able to bring him back, as he was busy filming another family Halloween flick, ‘The House with a Clock in its Walls’, which is currently #1 at the box office.

But the new trailer for ‘Goosebumps 2’ reveals that, yes indeed, Black is back!  We see his Stine arriving to help out the new cast of kids, Jeremy Ray Taylor (‘It’) as Sonny Quinn, Caleel Harris (‘Castle Rock’) as Sam Carter and Madison Iseman (‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’) as Sonny’s sister Sarah, replacing Dylan Minette, Ryan Lee and Odeya Rush.  Similarly to the first movie, the various creatures from the ‘Goosebumps’ novels are set free in the real world, in this case after Sonny and Sam find and open a locked book, which had been hidden away in an abandoned manor which bears the plaque “Stine.”

Check out Black’s big return below:

It’s unclear why his appearance wasn’t publicized before now.  Perhaps they wanted to avoid confusion with ‘The House with a Clock in its Walls’.  While the movies are certainly different enough, they are both family Halloween movies, with magical/supernatural elements and, of course, Jack Black.  If I were a cynic, I could even posit that Black’s role in ‘Goosebumps 2’ was meant to be a surprise cameo, but following the strong opening of ‘The House with a Clock…’ that Sony decided to piggyback on that film’s success to sell ‘Goosebumps 2’.

But even for a cynic, the presence of Black, back in the role of R.L. Stine, should be a treat for fans of the original movie.  Presumably, this also means that it was, indeed Black who supplied the voice of Slappy, as he did in the first.

Does Jack Black’s return make you want to check out ‘Goosebumps 2’ more?

‘Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween’, directed by Ari Sandel, also stars Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ken Jeong, and Chris Parnell, and is due in theaters on October 12, 2018.

Source: Bloody Disgusting