The hit Halloween song “Monster Mash” is getting a feature film adaptation. The biggest song to play in the month of October, “Monster Mash” was released in 1962 and performed by Bobby “Boris” Pickett, who co-wrote the jingle with Lenny Capizzi. The song, one that generates millions of streams in the month of October and is worth an annual $1 million in royalties, follows a mad scientist whose creation performs a new dance move that becomes a “graveyard smash,” resulting in a party attended by the likes of the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and Dracula.
Deadline reports that Miramax CEO Jonathan Glickman has optioned the rights to turn 1962’s “Monster Mash” into an animated musical film. No further details were announced. “For more than 60 years, nothing has said Halloween quite like the ‘Monster Mash,’” said Glickman, “We’re thrilled to be entrusted by the Pickett and Capizzi families and to be partnering with Reservoir Media to bring this iconic song to life as an animated musical for all audiences. It’s a project that celebrates the fun and spirit of the original — and should become a perennial ‘graveyard smash’ for years to come.”
“Monster Mash”s Enduring Popularity & Cinematic Potential
“Monster Mash” is a pop culture staple, being used in a wide variety of media, from the Adam Sandler Netflix original Hubie Halloween to the recently released The Fantastic Four: First Steps. One of the best was in The Simpsons episode “I Love Lisa,” where the radio DJ plays it as a Valentine’s Day song. The song has also been covered by a number of artists, including Alice Cooper and The Misfits. Talks of a feature film adaptation first emerged in 2020 from Universal Pictures.
The track record for turning songs into films is certainly shaky at best. Glen Campbell’s iconic “Rhinestone Cowboy” was adapted into the infamous flop Rhinestone starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton. However, plenty of hit movies, like Pretty Woman and My Girl, have been named after hit songs, though the stories have little to do with the songs themselves. There still is no word on the movie adaptation of Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi,” which, like “Monster Mash,” has a built-in narrative.
It is easy to understand the appeal of adapting “Monster Mash.” Family-oriented Halloween-themed movies can both be big box office hits that later become annual traditions. Disney has turned the modest hit A Nightmare Before Christmas and the flop Hocus Pocus into some of the biggest films in its catalog, watched every year, and generating plenty of merchandise. The Hotel Transylvania and recent Addams Family movies were big hits with audiences and have now worked their way into becoming Halloween staples. Monster Mash has the makings of a Halloween classic.