Watch: First Trailer for Eli Roth’s ‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’

Two things I never thought I’d write in the same sentence: Eli Roth and family-friendly film. The horror director is taking a huge detour is his normal genre offerings with a magical family-friendly journey film adaptation of John Bellairs‘s 1973 book The House with a Clock in Its Walls.

The film has some pretty big names attached, like Jack Black, Kyle MacLachlan, and Oscar winner Cate Blanchett. Young actor Owen Vaccaro (Daddy’s Home)is playing main character Lewis Barnavelt, and the first trailer was released this morning.

This September, you’re invited somewhere timeless. Here’s your first look at Jack Black and Cate Blanchett in The House with a Clock in Its Walls. #HouseWithAClock pic.twitter.com/C4SlXoz1HI

— The House with a Clock in Its Walls (@housewithaclock) March 27, 2018

Supernatural creator Eric Kripke penned the script, and Roth is directing the picture for Amblin Entertainment, Steven Spielberg‘s studio banner.  Amblin is posed to have a pretty big year in 2018 with Ready Player One opening at the tail end of this week (also based on a bestselling book) and House with a Clock later this year.

The original children’s book had some fabulous illustrations by none other than Edward Gorey, and the Historic Cronin House in Bellairs’ hometown of Marshall, MI was the inspiration for the story’s setting in New Zebedee.

The House with a Clock in Its Walls is set to open on September 21st.