DreamWorks & Blumhouse to team for animated film, Spooky Jack

August 2nd 2017, 10:17am

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The foundation on which the Blumhouse empire is built was made by scaring the hell out of audiences with grizzly horror features, intense thrillers and JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS. Now the studio is ready to prove it’s not all about terrifying the innocent, and that they actually have a soft side too, by teaming up with DreamWorks Animation for a new animated film.

Deadline got the exclusive the two will collaborate on a new film titled SPOOKY JACK, written by NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM scribe Robert Ben Garant. The film will center on three boys who move into a new home and discover that all the creepy, spooky things they were told don’t exist – like monsters and creatures under the bed – are in fact real, and they fear us just as much as we do them. The story was at one point being planned as a family-friendly, live-action feature at Blumhouse, but after failed attempts to conceptualize it, they realized it would be perfect for an animated venture.

Jason Blum spoke highly of the story, and expressed his excitement to be working with the House That Shrek Built:

We’ve worked with Ben before and when he brought us this idea, we all realized it would make a great animated feature. It’s a testament to the remarkably collaborative environment that Universal fosters among its creative family that we’re now jumping into animation in the very capable hands of Chris deFaria and the talented DreamWorks team. We are having a ton of fun with this original, funny and totally relatable take on what happens when kids join forces with the monsters and ghouls who live among us.

DreamWorks Feature Animation Group president Chris deFaria also spoke about the excellent potential of the script, and said they’re thrilled to be bringing Blum to the “light side.”

[The project is] a touching and funny story that allows us to take audiences deep into folklore from around the globe and create several truly memorable animated characters in addition to a visually unique world inside our own. We here at DreamWorks are extremely proud we were able to lure Jason over to the light side for this film.

Blumhouse has been a roll this year, with SPLIT and GET OUT both finishing at over $250 million worldwide apiece, making them two of the biggest hits the studio has ever had and made for a combined budget of less than $15 million. I don't blame them for wanting to spread some of that bank around and explore bigger features, and I'm always down for some DreamWorks animation when it's good. Anything to get them away from animated baby asses, you know?