R.L. Stine's Book 'It's the First Day of School ... Forever!' Optioned for Big Screen (Exclusive)

R.L. Stine's new book is getting the feature film treatment.

Gotham Group has optioned the rights to It's the First Day of School ... Forever! by Stine, one of the big names in children's literature, and will develop the title for adaptation into a family adventure movie.

Gotham Group CEO and founder Ellen Goldsmith-Vein will produce with Gotham's Eric Robinson, longtime Stine collaborator Yvonne Bernard of Lookout Entertainment and Gemini Girls Productions' Beth Elise Hawk.

Stine is the multimillion-selling author of Goosebumps, Fear Street and The Haunting Hour and has been called the Stephen King of children's books.

His latest tells the story of 12-year-old Artie, whose second day at his new school is exactly like his first, which just happened to be the worst day of his life. The boy finds himself reliving the same horrible day and must find a way to change his nightmare.

The book is due to hit shelves in July by Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group.

Gotham's Goldsmith-Vein calls First of Day of School "a thoroughly reimagined Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets Groundhog Day," also saying it combines the elements that have made Stine a household name among the kid-lit set, namely in horror and humor.

Gotham aims to attach a writer before taking it to a studio.

Parachute Publishing's Jane Stine and Joan Waricha will executive produce. Parachute is the rights-holder.

Stine's Goosebumps and Haunting Hour have been adapted into TV series, with Hour currently airing on Hub.

Gotham is one of the producers behind Abduction, Lionsgate's action thriller starring Taylor Lautner. The company also has The Maze Runner, an adaptation of a James Dashner YA fantasy, set up at Fox and How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack in development at Sony Pictures Animation. 

E-mail: borys.kit@thr.com