Producer Jason Blum wants Blumhouse to make more Universal monster movie reboots after the success of The Invisible Man. After trying, but failing, to successfully relaunch its classic monster properties as a shared universe on two separate occasions (first with Dracula Untold in 2014, then The Mummy in 2017), the latter has finally struck gold with The Invisible Man. A re-imagining of the famous character created by H.G. Wells, the film has already grossed more than fourteen times its $7 million budget at the box office. In addition, The Invisible Man has earned widely positive reviews, with critics praising it for being a truly disturbing and relevant update that refashions the titular monster as an abusive boyfriend.
With those types of returns, it's little wonder the studio is already looking ahead to the future. For the time being, however, it appears Universal is planning to continue developing its various monster movie reboots as standalone films, as opposed to trying to create a shared continuity in the vein of the Marvel and DC cinematic superhero universes. On his end, Blum seems content to come along for the ride as long as Universal will have him.
When Screen Rant interviewed him about Blumhouse's satirical horror-thriller The Hunt (which opens in U.S. theaters tonight, March 12), the topic of The Invisible Man and its success naturally came up. When asked if he had any thoughts about developing additional Universal monster movies, Blum simply replied "No, I don't," before quickly adding "But I would love to do more movies with the universe of monsters, for sure. We have no plans immediately, but I would love to do more."
As it turns out, Blum may've not been entirely honest with us when we interviewed him. In the time since then, it's come out that Blumhouse is already working on a new version of Dracula with Jennifer's Body and Destroyer director Karyn Kusama. The film is described as a modern re-imagining of the iconic vampire in the same style as The Invisible Man, and is expected to take an equally director-driven approach. Meanwhile, it's been reported Universal is pushing hard to finally get a Bride of Frankenstein reboot off the ground, and currently has Universal monster projects in the pipeline from directors like Dexter Fletcher, Paul Feig, and Elizabeth Banks. For the time being, though, Blumhouse is only reported to be actively backing the new Dracula.
Given both the artistic and commercial success of their low-budget horror movie production model over the last decade, it's hard to take issue with the idea of Blumhosue continuing to help out with Universal's monster movie reboots. Similarly, the lukewarm responses to films like Dracula Untold and The Mummy (2017) suggest the studio is better off not trying to transform their classic monsters into dark superheroes - like those reboots did - and focusing more on figuring out how to make them scary for modern audiences instead, a la The Invisible Man. So long as they continue to do that, the odds are Blum's name will be showing up in the credits for many a Universal monster title over the years ahead.