Jack Black will star in the gothic horror movie “The House With a Clock in its Walls” and Eli Roth will direct for Amblin Entertainment and Mythology Entertainment.

No start date has been set for the project, which has been adapted by Eric Kripke from the 1973 John Bellairs book, which was illustrated by Edward Gorey. The story is set with a recently orphaned 10-year-old boy named Lewis Barnavelt moving to the town of New Zebedee, Mich., to live with his mysterious uncle — who turns out to be a warlock, while his next-door neighbor Florence Zimmermann is a witch.

The titular house was previously owned by a couple who had dedicated their lives to black magic, and plotted to bring about the end of the world through a clock hidden in the walls, where it eternally ticks.

Mythology’s Brad Fischer and James Vanderbilt will produce with Kripke. The exec producers include William Sherak, Tracey Nyberg, and Laeta Kalogridis.

Black will next be seen in Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.” Roth’s reboot of MGM’s “Death Wish,” starring Bruce Willis, has been set for a Nov. 22 release by Megan Ellison’s nascent Annapurna Pictures distribution operation.