Hoo boy, now here is some news that's extremely my shit. A Simple Favor and Bridesmaids filmmaker Paul Feig has signed on for a new Universal Pictures monster movie that will reportedly feature classic monsters alongside original creature creations.
Deadline reports that Feig will write and direct the monster movie, titled Dark Army, from an original idea. Feig will also produce alongside Laura Fischer via his Universal-based banner Feigco Productions. While the report is scarce on details, specifically when it comes to how the new film will fit within a broader monster universe, if at all, word is the film will see monsters from the classic Universal library tangle with original characters created by Feig.
The state of Universal's broader plans for their classic monsters is quite a curious question at the moment. The studio has struggled with giving their iconic horror characters new life in recent years, first with 2014's Dracula Untold and again with 2017's The Mummy, which was intended to launch the ill-fated "Dark Universe" -- an interconnected universe of monster epics in the vein of spooky superhero movies. The Tom Cruise-led blockbuster underperformed critically and at the box office, leading the studio to revamp their plans for their classic catalogue. Feig's Dark Army joins Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man, which is a Blumhouse co-production, as the first post-Dark Universe monster movies to get the greenlight.
Feig is coming off the absolutely killer comedic thriller A Simple Favor, which was a bit slept on at the box office (though it made a nice $90 million worldwide on a reported $20 million budget), but based on the social media chatter, has been killing it on streaming. For good reason, it's Feig's best film in years (though I will always go to the mat for The Heat); bracing, stylish, fun, and fearlessly wild -- exactly the kind of qualities I would love to see in a re-imagining of a Universal monster movie. Especially if they decide to go the Abbot & Costello route with a new line of comedic monster pics.
Next up, he has the holiday romance Last Christmas (also at Universal), which lands in theaters on November 8, 2019.
