‘Spirit Halloween’ Is Going From Mall Store to Movie

I’ve heard of movies based on comics, based on books, based on Twitter threads, based on action figures, based on building toys, even based on board games. But to the best of my knowledge, this is a new frontier in the field of cinematic adaptation: A movie based on a seasonal retail store.

That store would be Spirit Halloween, which you probably know as the place where you can get a costume of Joker from Suicide Squad, but only for a few months of the year before they close down in early November. According to Variety, there is a “feature-length family movie” in  based on — and titled — Spirit Halloween that’s in the works and will star Back to the Future’s Christopher Lloyd and She’s All That’s Rachael Leigh Cook.

Here is the plot synopsis for the movie:

When a new Spirit Halloween store appears in a deserted strip mall, three middle-school friends who think they’ve outgrown trick-or-treating make a dare to spend the night locked inside the store Halloween night. But they soon find out that the store is haunted by an angry evil spirit who has possessed the creepy animatronic characters. The kids embark on a thrilling and spooky adventure in order to survive the night and avoid becoming possessed themselves.

And here I thought Spirit Halloween stores were haunted by the spirits of the Christmas Tree Store that was in that space the rest of the year. I stand corrected!

The Spirit Halloween film is expected to be released this year, just in time to capitalize on Halloween. It would be incredible if in keeping with the store the Spirit Halloween movie was only available to watch from August through early November.