Universal Monster Comedy Will Reunite Channing Tatum With Phil Lord & Chris Miller
The Universal monster revival continues. After failing miserably with the interconnected Dark Universe, Universal has bounced back withThe Invisible Manand plans for future standalone films. The latest entry is an untitled Unititled Monster Project being developed byPhil LordandChris Miller. Details are vague for the moment, but we do know that the film will reunite Lord and Miller with21 Jump Street StarChanning Tatum.
Deadline has the scoop on the Untitled Monster Comedy coming from Universal and Phil Lord and Chris Miller, with Channing Tatum set to star. The film is said to be “a modern-day, tongue-in-cheek thriller inspired by Universal’s classic monster legacy with Tatum set to star.” That makes it sound like something akin toAbbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and I am here for it. Deadline adds that “the project is a bold genre reinvention of one of the studio’s most beloved characters from the Monsters Universe.”
The idea for the flick came fromMagic MikewriterReid Carolin, andWes Tooke(Midway) is handling the script. Lord and Miller will produce for their Lord Miller production banner along with Tatum, Carolin, and Peter Kiernan, who will produce through their Free Association banner. Lord Miller’s Aditya Sood is also producing.
This is just the latest in a series of upcoming Universal movies meant to revisit the classic Universal Monsters. Once upon a time, Universal had big plans for a Marvel-like series of connected films under the Dark Universe banner. But things got off to a rocky start withThe Mummyin 2017. That Tom Cruise flick did not do the box office numbers Universal was hoping for, and while they tried to forge ahead with a new take onBride of Frankensteinfrom director Bill Condon, they eventually pulled the plug.
However, Universal didn’t give up. They got back into the monster biz with Leigh Whannell’s excellentInvisible Man. That film was a hit, and since its release, Universal has forged ahead with several other monster-related titles. There’sInvisible Womanfrom director Elizabeth Banks (despite the title, it’snotrelated to Whannell’sInvisible Man); then there’s theDraculaspin-offRenfieldfrom director Dexter Fletcher; Paul Feig’sDark Army, which is said to feature classic Universal monsters;The Monster Mash, which we don’t really know a whole lot about; anuntitled projectfrom James Wan; and a new take onThe Wolfmanstarring Ryan Gosling and directed byInvisible Manfilmmaker Leigh Whannell.
The one thing all these movies have in common is that they have nothing in common, and that’s a wise choice. Rather than try to manufacture their own cinematic universe, Universal is instead making monster movies that stand on their own.
