Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Scary Stories’ Moves Forward With ‘Lego Movie’ Writers Dan and Kevin Hageman (Exclusive)

Guillermo del Toro’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is moving forward with screenwriting team Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman coming on board to work on the script.

The CBS Films project is an adaptation of Alvin Schwartz’s popular trilogy Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The children’s books had short stories in them based on folklore and legend, and were accompanied by illustrations by Stephen Gammell.

The books were released in 1981 (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) 1984 (More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), and 1991(Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones). The series was often banned from school libraries because they were considered too scary for children, which seemed to only fuel its popularity. It’s sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.

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Del Toro, who is developing the film with an eye to direct, previously worked with the Hageman brothers on Trollhunters, his series for DreamWorks Animation and Netflix.

“I have had such a great time working with the Hagemans on Trollhunters — and they have proven to be such brilliant writers — that the fit for this material was just perfect: they grew up with the books, they love the genre and they are smart and emotional when writing characters,” says Del Toro.

Saw’s Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton first worked on the script for the project, with John August (Big Fish) working on a later draft. Del Toro is producing along with Jason F. Brown, Sean Daniel and Elizabeth Grave.

The Hageman brothers worked on the script for Warner Bros.’ hit animated film The Lego Movie, and are also working on the Ninjago animated Lego movie as that franchise expands. They previously co-wrote the script for Hotel Transylvania, and were writers and executive producers on TV series Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. They’re repped by CAA, Underground and Hansen Jacobson.