It seems like no matter how far away we get from Universal’s failed Dark Universe, it just won’t stay dead. The attempt to launch a cinematic universe around classic movie monsters collapsed with the 1-2 punch of Dracula Untold (eventually retconned as a standalone) and Tom Cruise’s The Mummy, but the films that were meant to follow have lived on in different forms. One is Blumhouse’s upcoming take on The Invisible Man, which looks pretty great. Another is The Bride of Frankenstein, which Variety says Universal has been quietly pursuing through some top-notch filmmakers.
Reportedly, Universal reached out to A Quiet Place‘s John Krasinski for his ideas on rebooting The Bride of Frankenstein. He hasn’t been able to crack an idea, so they turned to Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal, who in turn reached out to Sam Raimi who she worked with previously. It’s unlikely Raimi will get involved in any serious way given that he’s about to direct a Doctor Strange sequel for Marvel. So now Pascal has turned to screenwriter David Koepp, who has been involved with the project since it was to star Angelina Jolie and have Bill Condon as director.
As for whether Jolie is still involved, that’s in doubt, too. Her working relationship with Pascal hasn’t been great since the Sony email hack from a few years ago (Pascal is now with Universal) and that big-budget Cleopatra movie that went belly up.
So we’ll see if anybody is willing to put a ring on the Bride of Frankenstein‘s finger. It may depend on the success of The Invisible Man, which opens on February 28th.
