# Tubi Expands R.L. Stine Universe as Pumpkinhead 2 Debuts and Afraid of Clowns Nears

> Tubi is developing an R.L. Stine cinematic universe with Jem Garrard, following Pumpkinhead 2's October 9 debut and a planned Afraid of Clowns film.

- Published: 2026-10-18T17:56:41+00:00
- Section: Product Launches
- Author: News Desk
- URL: https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-10-18/tubi-rl-stine-cinematic-universe
- Source: [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/tubi-r-l-stine-pumpkinhead-2-the-babysitter-strategy-1236730062/)

## Key takeaways

- Tubi released Pumpkinhead 2 on October 9 as the second film in a three-picture deal with Front Street Pictures.
- Jem Garrard is writing and executive producing Afraid of Clowns and R.L. Stine's The Babysitter, with Trevor Calverley directing the latter.
- Tubi's Pumpkinhead spent two weeks in the Top 10 on Luminate, according to Josh Van Houdt.

[Tubi](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/00008j8/tubi) is developing an R.L. Stine cinematic universe with filmmaker Jem Garrard, beginning with Pumpkinhead and its sequel Pumpkinhead 2, which debuted October 9. [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/tubi-r-l-stine-pumpkinhead-2-the-babysitter-strategy-1236730062/) reported the plan, which includes Afraid of Clowns and The Babysitter, with Garrard writing and executive producing and more Stine adaptations under consideration.

## How Tubi Built Its R.L. Stine Slate

Tubi's [Front Street Pictures](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/000mae1/front-street-pictures) deal covers three films. Pumpkinhead follows a young teen boy, Bean Reid's Sam, searching for his missing brother in a town haunted by an evil crop curse. Josh Van Houdt, Tubi's vice president of original scripted content, said the platform weighed a TV-14 or TV-PG rating for the film.

"When I was talking to S&P, and we asked what we can show if we do TV-14, not TV-PG, my favorite response from them was, 'You can do vegetable gore, but not regular gore,'" Van Houdt told The Hollywood Reporter. "I was like, we can have pumpkin guts, but we can't have blood. Great, we can work with this. Vegetable gore it is."

Garrard said the sequel continues Sam's story rather than adapting another Stine title. "The sequel is not an adaptation; it's a continuation," Garrard said. Cassandra Peterson plays a witch named Cassandra with ties to the town of Redhaven, a character Garrard said was rewritten after casting to match Peterson's "almost Stevie Nicks vibe."

Afraid of Clowns, the third film in the Front Street deal, will have a different cast and story but remain connected to the same world, Van Houdt said. Garrard returns to write and direct. R.L. Stine's The Babysitter, a Point Horror adaptation, is set for 2027, with Garrard writing and executive producing and Trevor Calverley directing.

## Tubi's Scale Behind the Stine Deal

Tubi is Fox Corporation's free ad-supported streaming platform, according to akta.pro [company records](https://akta.pro/company-data), serving more than 100 million monthly active users with 275,000+ movies and TV episodes and generating $1.1 billion in annual revenue. The same records show Tubi launched as the first native streaming app inside ChatGPT in April 2026, enabling natural-language content discovery across its 300,000+ title library, and added 600+ movies and TV episodes from Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. Discovery to its Canadian platform the same month.

## Earlier Stine and Tubi Releases

The Hollywood Reporter reported in October 2026 that Tubi will release a live-action adaptation of R.L. Stine's The Babysitter in 2027, written and directed by Jem Garrard, following a 16-year-old babysitter who receives threatening calls after taking a job, marking the fourth Stine adaptation for the streamer. Yahoo reported in October 2026 that Anania, creator of Gaydar, will launch a late-night variety show on Tubi titled The Anania Show, premiering November 23.

## The Anania Show Premiere Date

The Anania Show premieres November 23, with Anania hosting and executive producing alongside Keisha Zollar, Morgan DeFiore, and Hannah Ceisler.

## Companies in this story

- [Tubi company profile](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/00008j8/tubi) · website: http://tubitv.com
- [Front Street Pictures company profile](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/000mae1/front-street-pictures) · website: http://frontstreetpictures.com

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