Universal’s one-movie Dark Universe will go down as a cautionary tale for any producers looking to hop onto the bandwagon that Marvel Studios started. But while the disastrous box office performance of 2017’s The Mummy forced the studio to hastily scrap the various plans they’d presumptuously laid out, it seems that Universal is taking a second stab at the franchise with a fresh new strategy, namely: let Blumhouse Productions do the work.
Variety reports that the studio responsible for kicking off several successful horror properties – including Insidious, The Purge and Paranormal Activity – has been tasked with working on The Invisible Man as part of a series of movies based on Universal monsters. While the project was first announced years ago with Johnny Depp in the lead, it’s said that the actor is not involved in the Blumhouse version, which currently has Upgrade and Insidious: Chapter 3 helmsman Leigh Whannell on board to direct.
The report states that The Invisible Man will be part of a fresh approach to the Universal monsters that involves bringing in creative directors with distinctive visions and giving them no obligation to connect their movies in a shared universe. Speaking to Variety, Universal’s president of production Peter Cramer expressed his excitement about the undertaking, explaining how their classic monsters have often benefited from fresh interpretations over the decades.
“Throughout cinematic history, Universal’s classic monsters have been reinvented through the prism of each new filmmaker who brought these characters to life,” said Cramer. “We are excited to take a more individualized approach for their return to screen, shepherded by creators who have stories they are passionate to tell with them.”
The report notes that The Invisible Man may not necessarily be the first of the new monster movies to go into production, since there are other pitches around different characters that are currently coming together. Indeed, before it all went wrong for the Dark Universe, there were various reboots lined up for The Creature From the Black Lagoon and The Bride of Frankenstein, among others, though it’s unclear if any of those old ideas might carry forward into this next incarnation.
In any case, as the recent success of Halloween attests, Blumhouse has kind of a knack for dusting off old horror properties and making them profitable again. But regardless of how this latest attempt at adapting the Universal monsters turns out, surely things can’t go any worse than the last time, right?