The Munsters is finally getting a reboot movie through Peacock, but why did it take so long? NBCUniversal announced that, through its streaming service, a movie reboot of The Munsters will be produced with an unknown release date. Reboot director Rob Zombie has already teased behind-the-scenes designs for the characters’ costumes and blueprints to the Munsters’ spooky mansion on Mockingbird Lane. The cast and plot details have yet to be released, but the anticipation behind the project is growing rapidly.
The original Munsters TV show ran from 1964 to 1966 on CBS, taking classic Universal-style monsters and molding them into one family. The series was a fun sitcom centered on the spooky family living in 1960s society while also providing commentary on being outcasts for not fitting in. In a fun reversal, the original Munsters flipped this with the Munsters family ironically considering cousin Marilyn, the only human Munster, the family’s black sheep. Herman (Frankenstein’s Monster), Lily (vampire), Eddie (werewolf), Grandpa (vampire), and Marilyn (human) Munster were the core of one of TV's most-loved satirical sitcoms about American suburbia, and it still influences directors like Tim Burton today.
The past few years have seen a resurgence in nostalgia-based series and movie franchises, especially those with beloved horror elements. Streaming services like Netflix have brought back horror cliche and homage-based projects like Stranger Things, an upcoming Tim Burton Addams Family spinoff, and the new Fear Street movies, all of which have or are projected to bring in big audiences. The common factor is horror nostalgia, and The Munsters are one of the only horror properties besides the Addams Family and Tim Burton’s movies that are a cozy type of horror and macabre, a premise that people loved in the ‘60s and love again today. In following such reboot pursuits, The Munsters is choosing the perfect time to come back to the screen.
Although the show is now regarded as a horror sitcom classic, the show was canceled after only two seasons on CBS due to competition from the Batman series. All the high ratings that The Munsters held quickly dwindled as Batman took away young, comic book-loving audiences who wanted to watch a show about heroes instead of monsters. It also didn't help that Adam West's Batman was one of the only shows in color at the time. Strangely enough, The Munsters found a second life through TV syndication, where it wasn’t competing with top shows and could be rewatched by dedicated fans - a format now ripe for streaming-based projects - which led the creators to try a future in reboots and movies.
Surprisingly, The Munsters rarely succeeded in the few television reboots or movies following its original television series. Between 1966 and 1996, The Munsters produced five movies, most of which featured the original cast members. After a pause in interest, the early 2000s tried to evolve The Munsters into a new type of comedy, with the Wayans brothers pitching a movie about the family in modern-day New York City, though the project never came to fruition. One popular revival series, The Munsters Today, starred a new cast of the same characters in the late 1980s and even lasted a season longer than the original series. Since then, Seth Meyers announced he would be making a reboot series in 2017, though nothing has come of such intentions.
TV shows seemed to work best for the everyday nature of The Munsters, but almost every movie made or pitched so far has been a TV movie not backed by a major studio or streaming service. With a metal band-frontman-turned-director at the helm of the new reboot, audiences will have to wait to see how Rob Zombie’s adaptation compares to prior iterations, and what its success or lack thereof will mean for The Munsters’ future.