Looks like Universal is letting Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek, Transformers, The Amazing Spider-Man) and Chris Morgan (Fast and the Furious series) develop a new series of Classic Universal Monster movies that will be much in the vein of what Disney is doing with the Marvel Universe.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/07/univ...s/#more-776482

Are they still getting Tom Cruise as Van Helsing?

Cautiously optimistic.

I wonder if this means we'll finally get to see Guillermo del Toro's version of Frankenstein or if they'll find someone else to helm the project. He just did an AMA on reddit the other day, but I don't know if he mentioned anything about it. I know he said Hellboy 3 isn't going to happen though...

I'd love to see a truly faithful Frankenstein (anyone who has not read it, needs to it is ridiculously good), but I suspect that is the farthest thing from what we will get with these movies.

I'm willing to bet they are going to approach these with an eye towards franchising them right out of the gate.
That mindset is going to influence every creative decision in the first film.

Philosophically, that's not a great way to start- unless they are going for slightly campy fun right off the bat.

It's more or less the book. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I remember enjoying it well enough, even though it feels like the cheap TV miniseries that it is.

I've also been told that the 1977 film Terror of Frankenstein (aka Victor Frankenstein) is pretty much the book, but I haven't seen it and I've heard nothing but bad things about it.

Of course, if it's a good big-budget version of the book you're looking for, then you're out of luck. I guess Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is as close as you can get. It doesn't make a total fucking mockery of the book the way Bram Stoker's Dracula does, but it still strays too far to be considered truly faithful.

‘Wolfman’ Reboot in Development; May Get ‘Prisoners’ Scribe

The Mummy reboot is scheduled for June 24, 2016. Deadline is reporting the next monster film is set for April 21, 2017. That could be the re-reboot of The Wolfman.

The last Wolfman movie could have been awesome if Uni left it the fuck alone.

I actually that one. Could have been better but I enjoyed it for the most part. How much did Universal change the script? Or was it just the director?

I hated the last Wolfman movie. Absolutely terrible.

I enjoyed it, The UNRATED version is the way to go, imo.

Mark Romanek left the project three months prior to shooting due to "creative differences" with Universal. Joe Johnston was brought in three weeks prior to shooting, but a lot of the practical effects Romanek worked with Rick Baker on were scrapped and CGI was used instead. There were also reshoots galore during the two years the film sat on a shelf.

I saw the film early at a test screening and it was unwatchable. Never saw the final product and I don't care to ever see it.

I would go see each of these movies five times if Universal would release the sequels to the original monsters on blu-ray.

I'm with Snake in that I do actually mostly dig the film, but to think of what it could have been with all of Baker's FX intact...

Not to mention, having two vastly different directing visions - along with studio interference - virtually guarantees a film will come out poorly.

I had no idea there was an unrated version. How much does it differ from the theatrical?

17 minutes worth. I still haven't seen the theatrical cut but from what I'm guessing the director's cut lets the film breath a lot more.

I guess, narratively, my issues lie w/ how cliche angry/annoyed father the Hopkins character is and how... well weak your John Talbot is, no subtlety to how they did him.

Beyond that... CGI animals and some cgi transformation never looked right. Some of the CGI helped the Baker effects but some just lacked visual impact.

The theatrical cut of the Johnston film, if my memory serves me, was absolutely terrible. Does the extended version improve it in any fashion?

Universal reportedly wants Scarlett Johansson to star in the Creature From the Black Lagoon reboot.

Creature from the Black Lagoon Wants Scarlett Johansson?

Which Frankenstein movie did you link to? The James Mason/Sarrazin miniseries?

She does have a fish face.

That'll work well if it's a period piece. She has a sort of 40s-50s-ish look to me.

Not for me...the creature and menstruation just doesn't mix

They were going to remake the Creature way back in the 80's, but it never happened. I just don't think that this is a good film for a remake. The Creature's costume was probably the best man-in-a-suit costume ever devised for a film.

So are these new films supposed to take place in a shared universe? If so, I'm curious when they will be set.

Yes, Universal's plan is a shared universe, same as what Marvel did. Dracula Untold was the kickoff. If you've seen that movie's ending, you'll know the setting.

The Mummy is next on the list and is set for June 2016. After that, the next film is scheduled for April 2017 and it'll most like be either another Wolf Man reboot, or Creature.

It could, potentially, be interesting, but whenever Universal dips back into their Monster catalog, it seems like it's a bunch of CGI crapfests like Van Helsing and those Mummy movies.

Never saw Dracula Untold, but all of the footage I saw of it looked like more of the same.