Netflix is taking book adaptations in a whole new direction as it heads down Fear Street. On Wednesday, the streamer released a trailer for the R.L. Stine adaptation, which will not be a Netflix original series but instead three feature-length movies released in quick succession. The premieres start on Friday, July 2.
The three-minute trailer for the Fear Street trilogy gives a glimpse of all three movies in the series, though they will be released weeks apart. They are based on a series of books by Stine, and they jump through time with the first movie set in 1994, the second in 1978 and the third in the year 1666. These Netflix original films are titled Fear Street Part One: 1994, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 and Fear Street Part Three: 1666. They will be released on three consecutive Fridays — July 2, July 9 and July 16 respectively.
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For fans of Stine’s work and this franchise, this reveal is a dream come true. The logline reads: “In 1994, a group of teenagers discovers that the terrifying events that have haunted their town for generations may all be connected — and that they may be the next targets. Based on R.L. Stine’s best-selling horror series, the trilogy follows the nightmare through Shadyside’s sinister history.”
More broadly speaking, the adaptation shows the versatility in adaptations and direct-to-streaming productions. The service is seamlessly melding the concepts of a movie and a limited series without having to worry about renewals. For fans left disappointed by premature cancellations in the past, this format may be more favorable.
Stine began writing Fear Street books in 1989, with a slightly more mature and grizzly tone than his Goosebumps series. The original run included 51 books before Stine called it quits, but it was revived shortly thereafter for a miniseries called Fear Street Nights. He also wrote a spinoff series called Ghosts of Fear Street, which targeted a younger audience and featured more supernatural creatures in its plots.
Stine revived the Fear Street books in 2014, shortly before the news of an adaptation first broke. Over 80 million copies of the books in the series have sold, and the Netflix bump is sure to drive those numbers up even higher. Fear Street Part One: 1994 hits Netflix on Friday, July 2. The other installments will follow on July 9 and July 16.
