It looks like Universal's Dark Universe shared continuity has vanished into the ether after the failure of the 2017 The Mummy film, but that doesn't mean they've given up on monster movies altogether.
The studio has signed on Leigh Whannell, writer and Insidious: Chapter 3 director, to direct a reboot of The Invisible Man.
"Remember that horror movie I told you guys I was writing a while back?" Leigh tweeted following the announcement. "So excited to bring this to life!"
Apparently this version is no longer going to star Johnny Depp, who was previously attached to the project, as the direction has changed, although it's been reported by Variety that he does the option to return if he so wishes.
The Invisible Man movie lost its writer in January last year with Ed Solomon telling Digital Spy that he and Universal "had a different idea of what the movie was gonna be".
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"I think Universal has had to come to a kind of reckoning of, 'What are we doing with the Dark Universe?' and, 'What is our real intention with it?' and I think they're reconfiguring it now, which I think is probably good," he added.
And he wasn't wrong, as following the disappointing box office of the Tom Cruise-starring film The Mummy, Universal is now said to be looking to move more towards individual films with a focus on the filmmaker's vision of each classic monster.
Related: Universal's Dark Universe might not be dead after all, according to this artist
"Throughout cinematic history, Universal’s classic monsters have been reinvented through the prism of each new filmmaker who brought these characters to life," Universal's president of production, Peter Cramer, said (via Variety).
"We are excited to take a more individualised approach for their return to screen, shepherded by creators who have stories they are passionate to tell with them."
The Invisible Man will be produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse banner.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
