MONSTER HIGH Movie Coming From Director of THE DUFF

Deadline reports that Ari Sandel, who won an Oscar for a short film called West Bank Story and later directed the delightful Mae Whitman in The Duff, has won the directing gig for Monster High, a live action film Universal Pictures hopes will start a franchise.

Monster High is based on the Mattel toy line that centers on the high school shenanigans of the teenage children of famous movie monsters including Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and more. It's apparently a huge money-maker for the toy company, and considering they already have direct-to-DVD movies (among tons of other merchandise), I suppose it was inevitable that a live-action film would be on the way soon. At least Sandel has experience with high school drama.

Universal is the same studio desperately trying to get a live action cinematic universe about those classic movie monsters off the ground, so it'll be interesting to see if Monster High is marketed as taking place in the same universe and if the same cast members from the monster movie remakes are used as the parents in this teen-centric tale. Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz are writing the screenplay, but no director or release date has been set yet. Alex Kurtzman's The Mummy arrives in theaters on March 24th, 2017.