After the critical and commercial success of 'The Invisible Man' earlier this year, Universal are now lining up another classic horror character for a modern-day version.
Variety reports that Ryan Gosling is set to star in a new take on 'The Wolf Man', the 1941 horror that starred Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains and Bela Lugosi. The movie was key in shaping the modern depiction of werewolves, and has been a key reference point in horror since its release.
As of now, no director is currently attached, however, it's understood that the movie will be set in present times like 'The Invisible Man', but will be drawing on 'Nightcrawler' as an inspiration. For those who never saw it, 'Nightcrawler' is an incredible noirish thriller about a deranged cameraman - played by Jake Gyllenhaal - who follows violent murders and crimes and tapes them for a low-rent TV news show.
Both 'The Invisible Man' and 'The Wolf Man' are part of Universal's catalogue of horror monsters, with the original plan being that they'd all feature in an interconnected franchise called 'Dark Universe'. However, since Tom Cruise's 'The Mummy' fell flat with audiences and critics alike, the whole thing was rightfully ditched in favour of smaller, more ingenious takes than all-out blockbusters as was planned.
As well as this, there was a version of 'The Wolf Man' back in 2010 with Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins that didn't succeed as well as it could have. Initially, Mark Romanek was set to direct the movie but then walked and Joe Johnston stepped in. The movie ended up being a bomb, not even making its production budget of $150 million in the process. By comparison, 'The Invisible Man' was made for $7 million and took in $122 million at global box office.
Variety's report has it that names like John Krasinski, James Wan of the 'Saw' franchise, and comedy director Paul Feig have all pitched Universal for different characters to adapt and renew, but so far, only 'The Invisible Man' is the only one to materialise. (badum-tiss)
No release date has been set for 'The Wolf Man', but expect this one to be some way off.
