Though modern audiences probably know Universal most for its Despicable Me, Fast & Furious and Jurassic Park franchises, the studio actually holds the rights to many much older franchises centered on classic movie monsters now considered to be old relics. I’m talking Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, the Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Bride Of Frankenstein, The Mummy and more. Though Universal did attempt to breathe new life into one of those icons with The Wolf Man back in 2010, the film came off as a haphazardly constructed creature feature with great make-up and a thin story, and it didn’t open any doors for the studio.
Now, however, Universal is taking another swing at bringing back its movie monsters, developing a new production endeavor that will be devoting to revitalizing several of those classic creatures. Today, it was revealed that the studio has tapped Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan to head up this new venture. Kurtzman, who recently separated from professional partner Roberto Orci, has been involved in many massively successful franchises, including Transformers, Star Trek and The Amazing Spider-Man. Morgan, meanwhile, has written the last five entries in the Fast & Furious franchise, Universal’s biggest money-maker at the moment, and also served as a producer on Fast & Furious 6.
It’s unknown whether Kurtzman and Morgan will be writing the new monster movies, but they’re currently working to enlist top talents from around Hollywood to resuscitate some of Universal’s most iconic monsters. Though the studio hadn’t entirely abandoned those classic creations up until this point, with standalones like the aforementioned Wolfman remake in addition to The Mummy, Van Helsing and this October’s Dracula Untold, this new production endeavor will mark the first formalized appoach to launching multiple new projects.
First up – a reboot of The Mummy, which has been set for April 22nd, 2016. That may seem like it’s a long way away, but the truth is that Universal still has a lot of work to do in order to make that date at all feasible. Still, with Kurtzman and Morgan now involved, at least Universal’s finally getting its act together about breathing new life into these long dormant properties.