Universal Pictures looks like they’re going all in on the “invisible” theme. Less than a month after dropping the unnerving first trailer for their upcoming horror flick The Invisible Man, the studio has now agreed to put another similar movie into production. According to Deadline, Elizabeth Banks will both direct and star in Invisible Woman.
Executives were reportedly impressed with the original pitch from the actress/filmmaker and will move ahead with the idea. The script is derived from a draft by Erin Cressida Wilson, who penned the cinematic adaptation of the eerie thriller The Girl on the Train. Banks and Max Handelman, meanwhile, will produce the movie through their Brownstone Productions, who also brought us the Pitch Perfect series and Charlie’s Angels.
Clearly, Universal believes that these disappearing acts will yield big returns at the box office. Blumhouse has already wrapped production on The Invisible Man, which stars Elisabeth Moss as the widow of an abusive husband who she fears is actually still alive. While details are scarce about Invisible Woman, it’s being reported that Banks will be the one to turn invisible in her feature.
Of course, both of these flicks are the result of the studio’s strategy to reboot iconic monster franchises of the past. Originally, Johnny Depp was cast in the titular role for The Invisible Man, but that plan was scrapped once The Mummy didn’t live up to expectations.
Universal still intends to revamp some of the monsters, but they’re being a lot more careful with which projects they go with this time. Banks’ pitch was apparently enticing enough though that they decided to give the pic the green light, despite a similar film under their banner being released in February 2020. And while we don’t know much else about Invisible Woman than what we’ve mentioned above, it’s certainly got our interest.