Casper the friendly ghost is gearing up to haunt a new generation, as Disney+ has secured a deal to produce a new live-action series take on the classic animated character, with Steven Spielberg attached as producer.
As reported by Deadline, this news follows an intense five-way bidding war for the IP, with Disney+ emerging as the winner. The live-action Casper series will be helmed by Rob Letterman and Hilary Winston, executive producers of the 2023 Goosebumps series. The duo will be joined by Spielberg, who returns to produce following his work on the 1995 live-action Casper movie from Universal Pictures, which starred Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci.
While no further details have been revealed on the upcoming Casper series, the show is set to be a modern retelling of the classic animated movies of the 1950’s, and will reportedly feature a darker edge similar to how the 2022 Netflix series Wednesday handled the Addams Family lore.
Casper the friendly ghost made his debut in a series of animated movies between 1945 and 1959, and has since appeared in numerous comic books, animations, and TV shows. The character would make his first live-action debut in the 1995 film, played by Devon Sawa (Final Destination) in human form and voiced by Malachi Pearson in ghost form. The movie would also go on to spawn two direct-to-video prequels from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 1997’s Casper: A Spirited Beginning and 1998’s Casper Meets Wendy, alongside an animated TV spin-off, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper. A sequel was also planned, but was cancelled in 2000 due to the disappointing sales of the direct-to-video films and Ricci’s hesitation to return to the franchise.
In 2013, DreamWorks Animation had announced plans to reboot the franchise with a CGI film from writing duo John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky (Blades of Glory) and director Simon Wells, who was initially attached to direct the cancelled Casper sequel, but ultimately, these plans failed to materialise as well. Now, with Disney+ at the helm, it seems Casper is finally making his way to the modern generation, albeit with what seems to be an edgier take.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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