James Wan in Early Talks to Direct New ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’

Long after moving away from its plans for a connected “dark universe” of monster movies based on its classic titles, Universal is seeing success (albeit mixed) with filmmaker-centric takes, including ‘The Invisible Man.’

So it certainly makes sense for the studio to have one of the biggest names in modern horror filmmaking and someone with experience in watery stories ready to jump into a new version of ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’.

Which means we all probably should have predicted that ‘Saw’/’The Conjuring’s James Wan, who also directed the two ‘Aquaman’ movies, would enter early negotiations for the movie.

“From the forbidding depths of the Amazon came a creature from the Black Lagoon”.

What is the story of ‘The Creature from the Black Lagoon’?

The 1954 monster movie, made in gimmicks and the popular 3D format, told the story of a prehistoric water-breathing humanoid monster and a group of scientists seeking to study it.

It was one of Universal’s last great monster movies, combining a compelling blend of horror, tragedy and romance, and introduced audiences to Gil-Man, aka The Creature, the last of his kind.

Jack Arnold, director of such sci-fi classics as ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’, directed the film, which featured Julie Adams as a woman who caught the eye of the creature.

Who else has taken the plunge to create a new ‘Creature’?

Hollywood has been trying to do a fresh take on the Creature for years, with John Landis considering a repeat in the 1980s, while John Carpenter and Ivan Reitman also developed the take in the 1990s.

Gary Ross started it in the 2000s, aiming to follow in the footsteps of his father — Arthur A. Ross co-wrote the script for the original — as did Breck Eisner.

And Will Beale wrote a script for a version of the creature that would be part of the Dark Universe concept.

According to The Hollywood ReporterWan’s film will be a grounded, modern retelling that pays homage to the original but leans towards visceral horror.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens with this latest effort.

What else does James Wan produce?

Wan’s Atomic Monster Company, which recently merged with Blumhouse, has a number of movies and TV series under its belt, including the ‘M3GAN’ sequel, a spin-off of the Killer Doll movie called ‘SOULM8TE’ and a TV series. A ‘teacup’ based on the peacock.

Wan is also developing the fourth installment of his wildly successful ‘Conjuring’ horror franchise, which he is describing as the final entry in the main story.