9 Mar – James Wan is the latest filmmaker to join Universal Pictures' growing roster of directors for its upcoming monster movies. Wan will not be directing though; The Hollywood Reporter brought word that he will be joining as producer under his Atomic Monster banner. No news yet on who will be helming the movie that Wan is developing but it is confirmed that Robbie Thompson, writer and co-executive producer of TV series "Supernatural", is penning the script. The movie is said to focus on a group of teenagers who find out that a neighbour is building a monster in his basement. Things escalate when the monster gets loose. Wan's as-yet untitled movie is currently the fifth that Universal has lined up in its smaller scale reboot of its previously planned Dark Universe, which failed to take off when the Tom Cruise-led "The Mummy" tanked at the box office. Instead of working on a shared monster universe, the studio is now focusing its efforts on a succession of story-based, standalone movies.
First up was Leigh Whannell's "The Invisible Man", the recently-released sci-fi horror movie which serves as a reboot of the 1930s' "The Invisible Man" film series. Its positive reception has strengthened the studio's decision to move ahead with its other slated monster movies. In the fourth quarter of last year, three directors were revealed to follow up Whannell's work with their own movies. Paul Feig is working on a Dark Army movie, Dexter Fletcher is teaming up with "The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman for "Renfield" and Elizabeth Banks will be starring in as well as directing "The Invisible Woman". As for Wan, he might not be helming the abovementioned monster movie but he is currently busy directing "Malignant", a horror movie that was previously reported as an adaptation of his graphic novel "Malignant Man" but he has since clarified is an original story by himself and his wife, Ingrid Bisu. "Malignant" is set to open this year, along with "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It", which Wan produced. He is also producing "Mortal Kombat" for next year and directing "Aquaman 2 for release in 2022.