‘Gossip Girl’ Creators Heading To ‘Monster High’ For Universal
Universal’s last attempt to turn toys into movies was not a success.Battleshipturned out to be a massive flop, and the studio wound up spendingmillions of dollarstonotadapt all the other Hasbro properties they’d acquired. But now, apparently, they’re ready to try, try again.
Gossip GirlcreatorsJosh SchwartzandStephanie Savagehave signed on for the studio’s live-action adaptationMonster High, based on Mattel’s popular line of dolls. The central conceit is that the teenaged characters — who look, basically, like Bratz girls gone goth — are the offspring of iconic monsters like Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, and the Mummy. Hit the jump for more details on the new film.
Mattel’s Monster High line launched just three years ago, but has become a bona fide phenomenon in that short time. The toy franchise includes games, apparel, TV specials, a web series, a direct-to-DVD movie, a book series, and collectively rakes in more money than Barbie does.
In fairness to Universal, aMonster Highmovie seems like a way better idea than aBattleshiporStretch Armstrongadaptation ever did. The popular toy line fits well with the current trend of supernatural pics, and there’s already an extensive mythology in place that should translate well to the big screen.
Plus, Schwartz and Savage seem like the perfect people to bring it to life. Schwartz created the surprisingly clever teen soapThe O.C., on which Savage served as an executive producer, and they birthedGossip Girltogether. On the movie side, they recently produced Universal’sEndless Love, a remake of the 1981 teen romance.
Monster Highis one of several film adaptations Mattel currently has in the works. They’ve also got aHot Wheelsmovie at Legendary, a long-gestatingMasters of the Universepic at Sony, and aMax Steelfilm expected to open next year.
