After the Dark Universe failed, Universal has taken a director-driven, story-first approach to its Universal Monsters.
The Invisible Man hits theaters at the end of this month, and The Invisible Woman and Renfield are in the works. However, Universal has plenty more in the works. Here are production updates on The Monster Mash, The Bride of Frankenstein, and Dark Army.
It Was a Graveyard Smash
Deadline reports that Matt Stawski to set to direct The Monster Mash from a script by Will Widger. It’s set to be a musical film, so fingers crossed they work that iconic song in somewhere.
The Monster Mash will be Stawski’s feature film directorial debut. His previous music video director credits include CeeLo Green’s “Fuck You”, Paramore’s “Hallelujah”, and Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister.”
We’ll keep you updated when any further details on this film get released.
Always a Bridesmaid, Never the Bride
According to Variety, producer Amy Pascal is actively working on a new version of The Bride of Frankenstein. Pascal has reached out to David Koepp, who wrote the Dark Universe iteration of the film, about the current version. She has also approached Sam Raimi and John Krasinski about potentially directing.
The Dark Universe version of the film was set to be directed by Bill Condon and star Angelina Jolie and Javier Bardem as the Bride and Frankenstein’s monster. All three of those players have now left the project. Raimi is unlikely to direct after signing on for the Doctor Strange sequel, as well. However, I think Krasinski could be a good fit for this material. Heck, let’s go one step further and cast Emily Blunt as the titular character.
Hey, Where Are All the White Army At?
Paul Feig is developing an old school “true monster film” for Universal called Dark Army. Recently, while speaking with Collider, Fieg said that the film is going through a rewrite:
“I wrote a draft and got thoughts from the studio, and now I’m in the middle of a rewrite on that right now, and so hopefully that’ll be my next movie. If it’s not, it’ll be the one after whatever I do next. But yeah, I’m very excited about it, too. It’s just, you want to get it right.”
Dark Army is rumored to feature both classic Universal monsters and new, original characters. Feig continued:
“I really want this to bring the same feeling that those old monster movies that I loved growing up watching [did]. I’m not as interested in doing a horror movie as I am in doing a true monster film. So, hopefully that will see the light of day. You never know in Hollywood these days, but I love it. I’m very excited about it. I’m excited about the characters that I’ve created and about some of the ones that I’ve been able bring over from the old movies.”
I’m not really a fan of Feig’s worth, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
As much as I wanted the Dark Universe to succeed, I’m liking the studio’s new individual approach. But, c’mon, the Dark Universe would have been crazy. Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise, Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Russell Crowe; the cast was insane. The crossover potential was huge. A studio hasn’t messed up a cinematic universe this badly since the DC Extended Universe.
What other Universal Monster films do you want to see get made?
