After Dark Universe imploded after one movie, Universal wisely decided that maybe an interconnected universe wasn’t the best way forward for them and that they didn’t really need to use their classic monsters as superheroes, especially when you’ve got a perfectly good Fast & Furious franchise sufficing for a superhero team series. Instead, they decided to scale back on budgets and invest more in individual filmmakers, which is why you now have the very promising The Invisible Man on the horizon. Now it looks like they’re going to stay in the “invisible” wheelhouse.

Elizabeth Banks is set to direct and star in Invisible Woman for Universal. Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train) wrote the current draft of the script from a pitch by Banks. Universal previously made The Invisible Woman back in 1940 as a sequel to The Invisible Man and The Invisible Man Returns, but it was more of a screwball comedy. We're hearing that The Invisible Woman will not be linked to Leigh Whannell's upcoming The Invisible Man, but that the movies are inspired by the same story (presumably that story being 1933' The Invisible Man). As an actress, Banks is incredibly versatile so I’m eager to see what direction she wants to take her first directorial effort where she’s the star rather than a supporting player.

It’s the tone of this feature that fascinates me the most. While Invisible Man makes sense as a horror film since it’s about an abusive husband but no one can see them, which is a potent statement on how we deal with domestic violence, Invisible Woman has a lot of options. Could it be a satirical comment on how women aren’t seen? Could it be its own brand of horror? Hopefully this project hits the fast track because I want to see what Banks does with it.