James Wan may soon revive The Creature From The Black Lagoon
James Wan is developing and will likely direct a new take on The Creature From The Black Lagoon for Universal
Photo by: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images
Horror mastermind James Wan may be taking on The Creature From The Black Lagoon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A writer is reportedly being hired to develop a remake of the 1954 classic alongside Wan, who will also produce. Per THR, Wan’s pitch to Universal is “described as being a grounded, modernized retelling that will lean into visceral horror, while still paying respect to the original.” It’s the first feature he’s attached his name to direct since Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom.
Universal’s Dark Universe has become something of a Film Twitter punchline, but there’s been some interesting developments with the roster of classic movie monsters since that franchise went up in flames. Wan’s Atomic Monster officially merged with Jason Blum’s Blumhouse earlier this year, and the production power couple’s company has a first-look deal with Universal Studios. In addition to The Creature From The Black Lagoon, they’ve got Wolf Man starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner. Leigh Whannell is attached to direct that one, and Blumhouse has also been gestating a sequel to his 2020 hit The Invisible Man. Chloe Zhao is reportedly working on Universal’s next Dracula. Meanwhile, outside the scope of Universal, Guillermo del Toro is cooking up a Frankenstein starring Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac, and Mia Goth, and Maggie Gyllenhaal is directing The Bride! starring Penelope Cruz, Christian Bale, and Jessie Buckley.
Generally speaking, James Wan has had his head down and immersed in monsters since finishing up Aquaman. It was reported that he was developing a Munsters reboot for Universal Studio Group. He’s also been teasing an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call Of Cthulhu. And of course, he was a producer on M3GAN (as well as its upcoming sequel M3GAN 2.0 and spin-off SOULM8TE), who is a monster for the modern age. Given his track record for original horror—Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring, etc.—it’ll be interesting to see what Wan can do with the monster classics.