After directing a pair of M3GAN films, Gerard Johnstone has been tapped to helm the live-action Monster High movie, based on Mattel’s doll line

The details of the plot are still under wraps, probably because they’re still actively doing script revisions. Mattel first announced the project in June 2024.

Monster High started out as a line of fashion dolls in 2010, and then became a 2D animated web series, then a cluster of TV specials. It centers around a fictional high school attended by the teenage children of famous monsters, and naturally, all of them are girls. These characters, such as Draculaura (daughter of Dracula), Frankie Stein (daughter of Frankenstein’s monster), Clawdeen Wolf (daughter of the Werewolf) and Cleo de Nile (daughter of the Mummy), riff off the famous movie monsters of yore, and also naturally, there’s no shortage of high school drama going on.

Johnstone’s breakout horror hit M3GAN grossed over $180 million worldwide, and the sequel, M3GAN 2.0, recasts the killer android as an anti-hero in the sequel set to open on June 27. Johnstone is also known for the haunted house comedy Housebound and the award-winning satirical series The Jaquie Brown Diaries.

Currently, Mattel Studios has two other live-action movies in the works: Masters of the Universe, scheduled for worldwide theatrical release on June 5, 2026, and Matchbox, which recently wrapped principal photography and is set for release in Fall 2026.

There is currently no timeline on when Monster High might hit theaters, but estimates put the release years away.