Canceling TV shows before they’ve even had a chance to premiere and prove themselves is a rare occurrence, but Disney Plus doubling down and doing it twice in quick succession came right out of the blue, even if Goosebumps was at least granted a stay of execution.
What made it even more curious is that The Spiderwick Chronicles and Nautilus were both effects-heavy and expensive fantasy reboots featuring characters that have appeared on the big screen in the past, but that obviously wasn’t enough to prevent either of them from being cast out onto the scrapheap months after each of them had wrapped production.
The former may have found a new home, but the latter continues to aimlessly drift around in televised purgatory, but Goosebumps has at least vindicated the Mouse House’s decision to show it mercy by scoring the biggest premiere Disney Branded Television has seen in two years.
The company has proclaimed the latest live-action adaptation of R.L. Stine’s back catalogue to be the most-watched premiere of the year so far on both Disney Plus and Hulu, and its biggest streaming debut of any kind since Pixar spin-off Monsters at Work landed in July of 2021.
Those numbers may be a drop in the ocean compared to what the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars drew in, but it might just be enough to let the Goosebumps team breathe a sigh of relief and possibly begin concocting a second season, something that should never be taken for granted given Disney’s rampant content purge over the last few months.