2024 is going to be an interesting year, for sure, and we have a big push from Universal Pictures adding to their modern wave of films connected to the Universal Monsters franchise. One of the upcoming projections is a new “Wolf Man” movie from Aussie filmmaker Leigh Whannell (“The Invisible Man,” “Upgrade”) with Blumhouse producing, and seems to be more of a modern take on the werewolf story, separating itself from the 2010 film that starred Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro. Filming is expected to begin soon because the studio has already given the new project a release date in October, suggesting a quick turnaround in the post-production process.
With that in mind, we have a new casting update for “Wolf Man.” The usual trade outlets including Deadline are all reporting that “Ozark” breakout Julia Garner has been tapped to play the female lead in the horror pic opposite Christopher Abbott (“Poor Things”), who had recently replaced Ryan Gosling (“The Fall Guy”).
The report says Garner will play “a mother whose family is being terrorized by a lethal predator.” This part seemingly echoes her recent Aussie thriller “The Royal Hotel” which was distributed by NEON last year.
“Wolf Man” is set to be released on October 25, 2024.
Universal Pictures once attempted to give their Universal Monsters franchise it’s own cinematic universe, which spectacularly failed after Tom Cruise’s “The Mummy” ended up a flop leading to the studio to pivot. Instead, they decided on allowing various filmmakers and writers to play within the sandbox, however, without all these new projects needing to inhabit the same cinematic space. This has led to a few mysterious projects that include one from the directing team of Radio Silence who previous made “Ready Or Not” and the last two “Scream” movies. They’ve been gearing up to shoot their film and have added some interesting names to the call-sheet.
One of the latest additions to the untitled film is “Ant-Man 3” actress Kathryn Newton according to The Hollywood Reporter. However, given the secrecy surrounding the mysterious film it is unclear what her role will be. Newton, of course, isn’t a strange to the horror genre after the body-switching slasher comedy “Freaky” and will be seen in Zelda Williams’ “Lisa Frankenstein” that has a script penned by Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (“Juno,” “Jennifer’s Body”).
Other actors assembled the for the upcoming horror project includes Dan Stevens (“The Guest,” “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire”), Melissa Barrera, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir, Kevin Durand, and Will Catlett.
We’re still unclear who or what the “monster” is going to be and how exactly it ties into the greater Universal Monsters mythology, but those details are likely to trickle-out eventually. It’s said the project was once called “Dracula’s Daughter” that involved kidnappers scooping up a bunch of youngsters with the Count’s daughter being in that group. But it’s unknown if that is still what is happening in this incarnation from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
The untitled horror movie has been given a release date of April 19, 2024 by Universal.
Universal Pictures is trying to develop a bunch of various films within the Universal Monsters branding and an upcoming project is one focused on Dracula’s familiar Renfield. The project was developed from a story idea by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible) and has a script from Rick & Morty writer Ryan Ridley.
It was originally going to be directed by Dexter Fletcher (Eddie The Eagle, Rocketman) but has since been replaced with Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie, The Tomorrow War).
McKay compared the film to Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2 when speaking with The Hollywood Reporter giving us an idea of what to expect from the horror pic’s tone.
“Renfield is a story about Dracula’s assistant set in modern times, and it’s kind of a codependency success story. And it’s a comedy. It’s a horror movie. It’s an action movie. It’s about bad bosses. It’s written by Ryan Ridley, who worked on Rick and Morty, and it’s a really funny and emotional. It’s gonna be like a hard-R action movie, crazy-violent in an Evil Dead 2 kind of way. That’s gonna be fun,” the filmmaker revealed about his upcoming Renfield project at Universal Pictures.
Deadline has now revealed that British actor Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class, Mad Max: Fury Road, Those Who Wish Me Dead) has been tapped to star just a week after landing the Searchlight thriller The Menu co-starring with Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes.
The film is said to be set during present day.
Universal is also developing a new Wolf Man film starring Ryan Gosling and a Dracula hybrid genre film from Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao (Nomadland, Eternals), the latter might already have quietly started shooting.
The Tomorrow War director Chris McKay was announced as replacing Dexter Fletcher (Rocketman, The Saint) on Universal’s Renfield movie, based on the Dracula assistant, and part of their Universal Monsters umbrella. The kicker is that the horror film will be a comedy written by Rick & Morty’s Ryan Ridley and McKay is teasing that it’s violence will be taking cues from Sam Raimi’s beloved Evil Dead 2.
“Renfield is a story about Dracula’s assistant set in modern times, and it’s kind of a codependency success story. And it’s a comedy. It’s a horror movie. It’s an action movie. It’s about bad bosses. It’s written by Ryan Ridley, who worked on Rick and Morty, and it’s a really funny and emotional. It’s gonna be like a hard-R action movie, crazy-violent in an Evil Dead 2 kind of way. That’s gonna be fun,” the filmmaker revealed about his upcoming Renfield project at Universal Pictures.
If you’re unfamiliar with the 1987 film directed by Sam Raimi, it was pretty much a remake of the previous Evil Dead film, however, taking a slapstick angle as the original was a slightly more straightforward horror movie without as many comedic elements.
Ryan Ridley is part a group of Rick & Morty writers moving into the realm of live-action projects as Michael Waldron is behind the Loki series, worked with Sam Raimi on Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, and is attached for untitled Star Wars movie that will be produced by Kevin Feige. Jessica Gao is the head writing on Marvel’s She-Hulk series and Jeff Loveness is behind the script for Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania.
EVIL DEAD 2 – The second of three films in the Evil Dead series is part horror, part comedy, with Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) once again battling horrifying demons at a secluded cabin in the woods. After discovering an audiotape left by a college professor that contains voices reading from the Book of the Dead, Ash’s girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler) becomes possessed by evil spirits that are awakened by the voices on the tape. Ash soon discovers there is no escaping the woods.
Many know James Gunn thanks to directing credits on projects like Guardians of The Galaxy and his upcoming DC Comics film The Suicide Squad, but made waves because of his writing work on the hit Zack Snyder-directed zombie flick Dawn of The Dead, a remake of the classic George A. Romero movie.
During a fan Q&A on Instagram, James Gunn (taking a break from the filming of Peacemaker) revealed that in the wake of Dawn of The Dead’s success in 2004 he tried to get a Creature From The Black Lagoon remake (based on the 1954 film) that was ultimately turned down by Universal Pictures.
“I tried to do Creature From The Black Lagoon right after Dawn of The Dead, but they didn’t want me to do it,” James Gunn said when responding to a fan question on Instagram.
Remake plans at Universal go back to the early 1980s with various directors getting in the mix such as John Landis (An American Werewolf In London), John Carpenter (The Thing, Memoirs of An Invisible Man), Peter Jackson (The Frighteners, King Kong), Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters), and Guillermo del Toro (Crimson Peak, Blade II).
More recently, the studio had directors Breck Eisner (The Crazies, The Last Witch Hunter, The Expanse) and Carl Rinsch (47 Ronin) attached at various stages. Back in 2015, there were rumors from The Tracking Board that actress Scarlett Johansson was wanted for a lead role with a script from Jeff Blitz, Gary Ross, Tedi Sarafian and Paul Schering.
After plans for their Dark Universe collapsed, there was chatter that the Universal was considering to continue with a Black Lagoon remake, but concrete updates haven’t been announced.
CREATURE FORM THE BLACK LAGOON – Remnants of a mysterious animal have come to light in a remote jungle, and a group of scientists intends to determine if the find is an anomaly or evidence of an undiscovered beast. To accomplish their goal, the scientists (Antonio Moreno, Richard Carlson, Richard Denning, Whit Bissell) must brave the most perilous pieces of land South America has to offer. But the terrain is nothing compared to the danger posed by an otherworldly being that endangers their work and their lives.
While Universal was twiddling their thumbs with those remake plans, Guillermo del Toro made his own creature feature for Searchlight Pictures, The Shape of Water, that ended up becoming a commercial success and landed Oscar statues for Best Picture and Best Director.
James Gunn would go on to direct Slither and Super before getting hired by Marvel Studios to help launch their successful Guardians of The Galaxy franchise. He recently completed work on The Suicide Squad that has an August 6 release date and will begin shooting Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 before the end of 2021.
A while back it was announced that Rocketman and Eddie The Eagle director Dexter Fletcher was circling a new Universal Monsters project focused on Count Dracula’s brainwashed lackey, Renfield. The script is penned by Rick & Morty’s Ryan Ridley based on an original outline from Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead, Invincible), Ridley’s involvement suggesting a comedic-bend to the horror movie.
Fletcher has exited the project to focus on Paramount’s The Saint reboot starring Chris Pine and Universal has hired Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie, The Tomorrow War) to replace him as director, according to Deadline.
Renfield believed if he was loyal enough, his master Dracula would give him immortality and is institutionalized. The incarnation of Renfield that standouts personally for me is Tom Waits’ take in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula from 1992 that starred Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, and Keanu Reeves.
The studio attempted to re-brand the Universal Monsters by launching their own modern cinematic universe, Dark Universe, starring with Tom Cruise’s The Mummy only for the film to flop. Leading the studio to kill the Dark Universe and retool their plans by getting Leigh Whannell to direct a new take on The Invisible Man with the help of Jason Blum’s Blumhouse. Renfield is part of a wave of new Universal Monsters projects, the next one is expected to be a Wolfman remake from Whannell and starring Ryan Gosling. Some of the other movies include a genre-hybrid Dracula remake from Chloe Zhao (Eternals, Nomadland), Van Helsing from director Julius Avery (Overlord), talk of the studio still trying to get a director attached for a Bridge of Frankenstein remake and other various films in development.
McKay’s sci-fi action flick The Tomorrow War starring Chris Pratt was recently sold by Paramount to Amazon for a hefty $200+ million and will be released on July 2, 2021.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Nomadland and Eternals director Chloe Zhao has been hired by Universal Pictures for a new Dracula film. Instead of treading on previous ground with the good Count, Chloe’s take is said to be a mix of horror, science fiction and western genres.
This new Dracula project, however, will be a far cry from the more traditional or even modern incarnations made over the years. Details are being kept in the coffin, but Zhao’s version is described as an original, futuristic, sci-fi Western. Themes of being on society’s fringes, something Zhao has tackled in her previous work, will course through the project’s veins.
Vampire movies that sort of come to mind here are Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, Blade/Blade II, and Daybreakers.
Zhao’s latest film Nomadland is looking to become a huge Oscar contender and she will likely land some commercial success with her upcoming Marvel Studios movie Eternals coming out on November 5th, 2021.
Universal Pictures has been developing a heap of projects with their iconic Universal Monsters along with a recent remake of The Invisible Man, which has led to director Leigh Whannell to return for a new Wolf Man remake with Ryan Gosling attached to star. There many more projects in the works as well.
At one time, Universal Pictures tried to develop a new film focusing on the famous monster hunter Van Helsing with director Guillermo del Toro and Tom Cruise starring. The character best known as the nemesis of Count Dracula in multiple installments from Hammer Films played by Star Wars actor Peter Cushing. More recently played by Anthony Hopkins in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula from 1992 and Hugh Jackman in the less scary Van Helsing adventure film from 2004.
Back in 2015, Universal then attempted to developed another reboot from screenwriters Jon Spaihts (Dune, Prometheus) and Eric Heisserer (Bloodshot, Arrival, Lights Out). This took place when the studio was assembling their Universal Monsters franchise called Dark Universe, which crumbled after the misstep of The Mummy reboot starring Tom Cruise flopped at the box office.
Deadline has an update on the project that will see James Wan’s production company Atomic Monster getting involved along with Overlord director Julius Avery now attached for the horror reboot. They also mention that a new script was penned by Eric Pearson (Black Widow, Thor: Ragnarok, Godzilla vs Kong, Agent Carter) that will now get rewrites from Avery.
Julius had once been attached to direct a reboot of Flash Gordon for 20th Century before the the merger with Disney led to the project’s demise.
Fellow Australian director Leigh Whannell (Upgrade) was tapped to reboot The Invisible Man with help from Blumhouse Productions and is now working on a new Wolfman movie that will star Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049, Drive). There is a Dracula movie in the works from director Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, Destroyer) with other more comedic projects in various stages of development.
They had also been trying to reboot both Bride of Frankenstein and Creature From The Black Lagoon.
It’ll be interesting to see if Universal will want to make an R-rated film given the graphic nature of vampires to begin with and making PG-13 movies with vampires tend to be toothless concerning the horror angle being hindered without the use of blood/gore. I’m slightly curious if Avery’s film will be connected to Karyn’s Dracula film.
Yesterday, Deadline reported that Channing Tatum is planning on reuniting with his 21 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are producing an untitled film for Universal Pictures that will be satirical thriller set in the Universal Monsters universe.
Tatum attached to take the lead role.
Sources tell Deadline that Universal Pictures, Lord Miller and Free Association are developing an untitled monster project, described as a modern-day, tongue-in-cheek thriller inspired by Universal’s classic monster legacy with Tatum set to star.
There are zero plot details but the idea/outline came from Channing’s producing partner Reid Carolin and a script penned by Wes Tooke.
On paper, the mystery project might not be too dissimilar to the mystery Universal Monsters project that Paul Feig is developing separately.
Tatum has been keeping a low profile lately after a starring role in Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky, taking a supporting role in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and upcoming cameo in Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy. At one point, he was producing and co-writing a solo Gambit film for 20th Century Fox before the merger with Disney essentially killed it.
The Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell is following up with another Universal Monsters project with a Wolfman film starring Ryan Gosling.
It looks like Blumhouse and Universal Pictures has found the director for their upcoming Wolfman reboot starring Canadian actor Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049).
Deadline reports that Leigh Whannell has been tapped and is currently negotiating to direct.
Leigh gave Universal their post-Dark Universe hit with Universal Monsters character The Invisible Man, the modern remake of the H.G. Wells story. That success likely is behind the reason why Universal/Blumhouse wanted him to tackle another iconic monster like the wolfman.
Whannell wrote the treatment with Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo tackling the script.
There had been some previous comparisons to thriller Nightcrawler and will have a modern setting.
When filming is expected to begin is a little unclear.
THE RONIN 