Rumor: 'The Wolfman' Already Heading For A Reboot?

The modern incarnations of the Universal's classic monster stable haven't quite had the best luck. And by 'modern' I mean in the last twenty years: Francis Ford Coppola kicked things off with his not-quite-canonical retelling of Dracula, and Kenneth Branagh bombed with his take on Frankenstein. (Neither of which were Universal films, however.)

Fast-forward several years, and Universal did a slightly better job with The Mummy, which at least found an audience, even if it did not quite match the original film. But a revival of The Wolfman, which should have been a pretty simple prospect, turned into a complicated and over-budget production when director Mark Romanek left and Joe Johnston came on board. The film was poorly received and underperformed at the box office, though it did score an Oscar for makeup.

Now, if one report is correct, Universal has decided that plans for a sequel to that film aren't quite as good as plans to reboot it altogether.

Moviehole says that a Michael Tabb script meant as a sequel is being reworked to be a new original Wolfman film. There is no title, but Werewolf is reported as a possibility, and the movie might look back to the 1941 George Waggner The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. Moviehole says that a director could he hired within weeks, with casting to follow and a tentative plan for a fall shoot.

This is all unconfirmed, but the timing seems right. A film shot this year could be released right around the time the final Twilight film lands, and so if there is a time to capitalize on interest in lycanthropy, it is probably now.

Edit: the original published version of this article made it seem like Universal was behind the Coppola Dracula and Branagh's Frankenstein, which is quite obviously not correct. I've re-worded the intro as a result.