The Invisible Man Remake Is On Again, But Dark Universe Remains Dead

The release of the star-studded, big budget remake of The Mummy in 2017 was supposed to kickstart an entire interconnected monster movie universe. But the movie was a critical and commercial failure, and the so-called Dark Universe was quickly abandoned by Universal. However, it has now been reported that The Invisible Man, one of the properties that was previously in development, has been resurrected by the studio.

According to Variety, the Invisible Man man reboot will be directed and written by Leigh Whannell, who most recently directed the sci-fi action movie Upgrade, as well as co-creating the Saw franchise. The movie is set to be produced Jason Blum, whose Blumhouse Films also produced Upgrade, plus horror hits such as The Purge, Get Out, and Insidious.

The site states that the film is part of a "fresh strategy" for Universal's classic monster properties, utilising fresh, distinctive creative teams for the individual titles. Blumhouse is known for its modest budgets, so it is highly unlikely that The Invisible Man will cost anywhere near as much as The Mummy. There is currently no release date set for the movie. Johnny Depp, who was initially attached to star in the Dark Universe film of The Invisible Man, is reportedly no longer connected to the new version.

Dark Universe was launched in May 2017, but by November that year it was reported that the entire thing was dead. The second movie in the series was set to be The Bride of Frankenstein, but that was indefinitely delayed, and soon after franchise producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan quit.

In a statement at the time, Universal president of production Peter Cramer said, "We've learned many lessons throughout the creative process on Dark Universe so far, and we are viewing these titles as filmmaker-driven vehicles, each with their own distinct vision. We are not rushing to meet a release date and will move forward with these films when we feel they are the best versions of themselves."