After finding great success with their new take on The Invisible Man, Universal is moving forward with their planned reboots of new movies starring the Universal Monsters – and Count Dracula is apparently next on the list. Since premiering on the big screen in late February, The Invisible Man has pulled in big profits in addition to flattering reviews, earning nearly $100 million so far against its budget of a meager $7 million. Needless to say, it’s not surprising to see the studio reaching back into the well to bring new life to other classic monsters, and Dracula seems like the most logical choice of where to go to next.
As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Karyn Kusama (Destroyer) will be directing this new Dracula movie with Jason Blum of Blumhouse producing. Kusama is no stranger to the horror genre, as she previously directed the Megan Fox monster movie Jennifer’s Body. Her work also includes the 2015 thriller The Invitation, and the filmmaker has also worked on the television shows Billions and The Outsider. Of course, Blum is well known for his involvement with low budget horror films that turn out to be huge box office successes, with The Invisible Man and Halloween immediately coming to mind.
This will also be far from the first movie to be made about Count Dracula, with many new portrayals coming within the past several years alone. Adam Sandler famously voices the character in the Hotel Transylvania movies, and Luke Evans provided his take on the vampire in the 2014 movie Dracula Untold. The Count has also been featured in recent shows like Penny Dreadful, Castlevania, and Van Helsing. He was most recently portrayed by Claes Bang in the new BBC and Netflix series Dracula, which made its premiere on the small screen in January.
Leigh Whannell, who helmed The Invisible Man, also had his sights set on doing a Dracula movie for Universal and Blumhouse as well. Earlier this month, Whannell said he’d like to pursue Dracula if given the chance to do so. “I think I would try to get at the essence of what makes Dracula scary, which is, to me, what makes Dracula scary is his lack of mercy,” Whannell says, suggesting his vision of the vampire is comparable to real-life maniacs. “Like, he’s not a romantic. He needs to drink blood. What parallels in life can you think of that equate to someone without mercy. It’s a psychopath, right?”
Perhaps Whannell didn’t land his next Universal Monsters dream gig of directing a Dracula movie, but he still has plenty to be proud of with the success of The Invisible Man. Considering the profits made by the Universal Monster movie, it seems all but guaranteed that The Invisible Man will have a sequel, and I would bet Whannell would be approached to return for the potential follow-up movie. For now, you can catch The Invisible Man currently playing in theaters everywhere. This news comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter.
