'Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark' sequel greenlit, with a story by Guillermo del Toro

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is getting a sequel, with Guillermo del Toro providing the story and André Øvredal returning to the director’s chair.

The horror movie, based on a compendium of chilling tales for kids, proved to be a box office success last year, scoring $106m (£86m) at the box office from a budget of just $25m (£20m).

Read more: Best horror movies of 2019

Øvredal told Yahoo Movies UK last year that he would “absolutely” return if a sequel got the greenlight, and he has now signed on the dotted line according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Guillermo del Toro, who served as producer on the first movie as well as receiving a “story by” credit, is again involved in a writing capacity.

The three-book series of anthologies by Alvin Schwartz upon which the first movie was based contains more than 80 short stories, leaving plenty of material for the filmmakers.

The first movie used a book retrieved from a haunted house as the framing device for the various tales, which saw the words of the stories play out in the real world.

Del Toro expressed his distaste for the idea of a traditional anthology film like Creepshow or V/H/S, telling a Comic-Con audience that those movies “are always as bad as the worst story in them”.

Read more: Del Toro says he’s done with comic book movies

Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman are set to return to write the screenplay based on Del Toro’s story.

Del Toro is currently at work on his next directorial project — a rare departure from the supernatural for Nightmare Alley.

Based on a noir novel from the 1940s, it follows the various sleazy inhabitants of a carnival.

Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Rooney Mara lead the starry cast.

Read more: Cooper replaces Leonardo DiCaprio in Nightmare Alley

Disney paused production on the movie — which is being released through the Searchlight Pictures banner — in March as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.