James Wan is developing a remake of the Universal classic Creature from the Black Lagoon that he’s expected to produce and direct
Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man – Universal has brought them all back to the screen in the decades since their glory days in the 1930s and ’40s. But one classic Universal monster who hasn’t had a new movie since the 1950s is the Creature from the Black Lagoon, a.k.a. the Gill Man. The closest we’ve gotten is the unofficial version of the creature that was seen in the 1987 classic The Monster Squad. But now Deadline reports that genre regular James Wan (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring, etc.) and his production company Atomic Monster are developing “a grounded modernized retelling” of Creature from the Black Lagoon that will lean into “visceral horror while paying respect to the original classic.”
Wan is expected to direct the film and will be producing, with Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Judson Scott serving as executive producers. EVP of Production Development Jay Polidoro will be overseeing the project for Universal.
Directed by Jack Arnold from a screenplay crafted by Harry Essex, Arthur Ross, and Maurice Zimm, Creature from the Black Lagoon has the following synopsis: Remnants of a mysterious animal have come to light in a remote jungle, and a group of scientists intends to determine if the find is an anomaly or evidence of an undiscovered beast. To accomplish their goal, the scientists must brave the most perilous pieces of land South America has to offer. But the terrain is nothing compared to the danger posed by an otherworldly being that endangers their work and their lives.
The original film was released in 1954 and was followed by Revenge of the Creature in 1955 and The Creature Walks Among Us in 1956. The fact that the Gill Man hasn’t starred in a new film in nearly 70 years isn’t due to a lack of interest in the character. Remakes of Creature from the Black Lagoon have been in and out of development hell for over 40 years at this point, passing through the hands of writers and directors like Jack Arnold, Nigel Kneale, John Carpenter, Bill Phillips, Herschel Weingrod, Timothy Harris, Ivan Reitman, Gary Ross (son of Arthur Ross), Guillermo del Toro, Tedi Sarafian, Breck Eisner, Carl Erik Rinsch, Dave Kajganich, Jeff Pinkner, and Will Beall. In one version, the creature was going to be the result of a pharmaceutical corporation polluting the Amazon. Another version was going to end with a rocket launcher battle and the creature catching a ride on a helicopter with Dr. Henry Jekyll. There’s no word on what Wan’s approach to the creature will be.
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