Universal hired director Leigh Whannell to helm The Wolf Man remake starring Ryan Gosling. SlashFilm says that the director of Upgrade and The Invisible Man will also write the film treatment. As we reported earlier, the previous idea for the story came from Gosling himself, with a script by Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum (Orange Is the New Black). At the time, Universal was looking to hire Cory Finley (Bad Education) as director. Whannell was reluctant to accept the project, but the studio was extremely eager to work with him again. Small wonder there: The Invisible Man earned $126 million on a $7 million budget. As with that film, Blumhouse will once again co-produce the project alongside Universal.
But we’re not done with Universal horror movies yet! The studio is also developing Small Monsters – a kid-friendly version of its classic horror films. In charge of this live-action hybrid creature feature will be Josh Cooley, director of Toy Story 4. He will both write and direct the movie based on designs by the concept artist Crash McCreery, who previously worked on Jurassic World, Kong: Skull Island, and Rango. McCreery will additionally serve as an executive producer.
These are far from only Universal horror remakes currently in works. There are also Karyn Kusama’s Dracula, Dexter Fletcher’s Renfield, Invisible Woman featuring Elizabeth Banks, Paul Feig’s Dark Army, and Matt Stawski’s The Monster Mash.
