Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark sequel in the works

A sequel to 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark' is in the works.

Director André Øvredal is back on board for the second installment of the spooky saga, while writers Dan and Kevin Hageman are also back on board for the project, which is a joint venture between Paramount and Entertainment One.

The 2019 movie was based on an adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's short story collections, but with each of the three books featuring 25 to 29 tales and only a handful used in the first film, there will be plenty of material to draw on for the next installment.

The original film - which took over $105 million worldwide - also included Guillermo Del Toro as a producer and writer and he admitted he was "really excited" when asked to work on the project.

He previously said: "When CBS Films approached me about doing this movie, I was really excited. They'd done two screenplays before, but I said, 'Let's start from scratch'. I have this idea that's very relevant to today. It's an interesting way to see how stories shape who we are; about how once you release a story, you can't get it back. Stories are like toothpaste: once it's out, you can't put it back in. We tried to set it in a relevant time. A time in which lies, or stories, were being told to the USA and we were engaged in a war we didn't understand. That's why we chose 1968 - 1969 as a perfect period to set the story."

Guillermo also admitted setting the story in the 60s allowed him and André to play with the horror elements of the plot, as modern technologies such as cell phones and Google would make the characters less isolated from the world.

He said: "I think there's a huge amount of people telling stories about right now. Huge! But I think there's beauty in holding an oblique mirror. What were the conditions like back in 1969? Very different, so instead of cellphones, we give them walkie-talkies. They can still communicate, but they can't Google and they can't call 911 from the street."