Sony's Goosebumps 2 appears to finally be coming together as the sequel has just been given a new release date by the studio. The Goosebumps sequel is now set to arrive on October 12, 2018 as opposed to September 12, 2018. There are a few likely reasons for the move, but the movie coming out closer to Halloween will likely provide an advantage at the box office as a family-friendly option. It's also now being reported that Jack Black will return in the sequel, despite other reports stating that he may not be back at all.

The House With the Clocks on the Wall is set to arrive on September 12, which also stars Jack Black. If Goosebumps 2 had kept its original release date, Black would have been competing against himself at the box office. That wasn't a great option for Sony or Universal, so the release date move makes sense for that reason as well. It also gives the studio more time to finish the movie, which hasn't even started filming yet. That will make hitting that October 12 release date tight, but after what Ridley Scott was able to do with All the Money in the World recently, anything is possible.

Story details are currently scarce for the Goosebumps sequel, as the studio reportedly had several versions of a script floating around for a bit. At one point, the movie was said to be titled Goosebumps: Horrorland, but that seems to have been scrapped. Now, it looks like the sequel will be titled Goosebumps: Slappy's Revenge, but that has yet to be confirmed by the studio. In the first Goosebumps, Jack Black portrayed author R.L. Stine and provided the voice for the dummy Slappy. So his return lends some credibility to the recent reports of the title change.

Director Rob Letterman, who directed the first Goosebumps, isn't returning to helm the sequel. He's moved on to directing Detective Pikachu for Legendary Pictures. Instead, Ari Sandel (The Duff) will be taking over for Goosebumps 2. As far as the cast goes, Jack Black is the only cast member from the original that's been confirmed at this point. It's entirely possible that Sony is going in an entirely different direction with this one and will bring in new cast members to fill this installment out.

Goosebumps was a modest hit at the box office, bringing in $150.1 million worldwide, working from a $58 million budget. Sony also moved Alpha, which is an Ice Age action movie, from its March 2 release date to September 14, essentially taking the place of the Goosebumps 2 release date. Deadline notes that Goosebumps 2 will be facing off against Hellfest from Lionsgate and Universal's Neil Armstrong biopic First Man, which comes from La La Land director Damien Chazelle and stars Ryan Gosling as the famed astronaut. That makes for a somewhat crowded weekend, but Goosebumps 2 is going for a bit of a different audience.