In proof that sometimes a film can go into the pit of development hell and still re-emerge, it’s been announced that Mike Mitchell has signed up to direct Monster Squad. The film has been around since 2000, when Warner bought a spec script by Brian Lynch called Nightcrawlers, about the adventures of an international coalition of kids whose job it is to combat a variety of monsters found under beds.
Since then it’s been through endless writers and in 2007 McG was attached to direct the film, but he’s since dropped out. Now the studio has found Mitchell to take over, with hopes to start filming next summer.
While not exactly a household name, Mitchell has directed movies like Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Surviving Christmas, Sky High and is helming the upcoming Shrek Forever After. He has also signed up for MGM’s Once Upon A Time, about fary tale characters including Cinderella and Snow White, whose husbands go missing (presumably they’re not on the DL).
While Mitchell’s back catalogue doesn’t exactly suggest Monster Squad will be a work of genius, it’s a film we’ve liked the sound of ever since we first heard of it, so we’re glad it hasn’t completely disappeared off the radar.