It’s been about a year and a half since any talk arose over Upgrade director Leigh Whannell’s attachment to pen a reboot for Escape From New York.
The famed sci-fi director favorite also just scored an opportunity with Blumhouse TV and UCP for the development of a sequel series based on the aforementioned Logan Marshall-Green starrer as of May.
Time will tell what happens with either of these projects, as Whannell basks in the success of his recent sci-fi horror, The Invisible Man, from Universal Pictures. For now, the time going forward may also invite further progress on The Wolfman for the same studio.
Mike Fleming Jr.’s exclusive report at Deadline notes Whannell, currently in talks to direct actor Ryan Gosling in the title role based on the classic movie monster franchise, will also pen the treatment with Blumhouse producing next to the actor.
The original 1941 movie from George Waggner told of a Llan Welshman who, upon his return to his home village following his brother’s death, finds himself transmogrified into a werewolf following a werewolf attack. Actor Lon Chaney Jr. played the role four more times until 1948, sharing the screen with classic monsters Frankenstein and Dracula, and comedy duo Abbot and Costello.
Joe Johnston directed his own incarnation in 2010 with Benecio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, which fell short of expectations, but won an Academy Award for Best Make Up in 2011. Universal since attempted to revamp its classic monster line-up following Dracula Untold, eventually announcing the film as part of the Dark Universe, until 2017 when Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy remummifed at the box office that year.
Whannell’s Wolfman will be based on his own original idea for which he will put together the treatment, with Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo (Netflix’s Orange is the New Black) writing a script.
Lead pic: Gage Skidmore/Wiki Commons