Over the next few days, you're likely going to have trouble avoiding "Monster Mash" on the radio or any Bluetooth speaker in your neighborhood. But in a few years, you might have a hard time avoiding it at the movie theater, as well.
The 1962 song from Bobby “Boris” Pickett has been ranked as the biggest Halloween song of all time
Michael Ochs Archives
Over the next few days, you're likely going to have trouble avoiding "Monster Mash" on the radio or any Bluetooth speaker in your neighborhood. But in a few years, you might have a hard time avoiding it at the movie theater, as well.
Miramax has optioned the film rights for the song Billboard once named the "biggest Halloween song of all time." The plan is to convert the ditty into an animated feature, much like Miramax did with The Addams Family in 2019.
Performed and co-written by Bobby “Boris” Pickett in 1962, the song has been streamed over half a billion times. It still frequently makes the Billboard charts at this time of year, but it was banned by the BBC for 11 years at one point for being "too morbid."
“For more than 60 years, nothing has said Halloween quite like the ‘Monster Mash'," Miramax CEO Jonathan Glickman told Deadline. "We’re thrilled 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 is certainly an unusual choice for a film adaptation, but it's far from the strangest in recent years. And some of those odd choices have proven to be quite successful. Filmgoers, for instance, wondered how Barbie would translate to the big screen, but the 2023 film posted box office revenues of $1.4 billion. Pirates of the Caribbean also seemed a long-shot, but became a successful franchise for Disney $DIS.
If nothing else, Monster Mash will have plenty of characters already familiar to audiences. The song namechecks Wolfman, Igor, Mummy, Dracula (and his son). And there could certainly be some interest from long-time listeners in learning exactly who the Crypt-Keeper Five are – and what they sound like.
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