Angelina Jolie being courted by Universal for Bride of Frankenstein remake
After two weeks of release, director/star Angelina Jolie’s relationship drama By the Sea has yet to cross the million dollar mark at the worldwide box office, but in spite of its perceived failure-to-launch, it could still prove a boon to Universal Pictures. In an article from The Hollywood Reporter about the studio’s tactics in greenlighting the art house film, it supposedly did so because they want Jolie to headline their remake of the 1935 camp horror classic The Bride of Frankenstein.
First announced in 2009, the Bride redo was being developed as a directing vehicle for Neil Burger (Limitless, Divergent), to be produced by Brian Grazer and Sean Daniel with a screenplay by Burger and Dirk Wittenborn (The Lucky Ones). Although the article states Grazer is still the active producer, there’s no confirmation one way or the other about Burger’s involvement, although he certainly has more clout than he did in ’09. There is also no mention of whether Bride of Frankenstein would be integrated into the shared cinematic Monster Universe that Universal is developing under writers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan.
The Morgan-scripted 2008 action hit Wanted may also be getting a sequel, as the article hints that the studio would like Angelina Jolie to star in Wanted 2, although that has been batting around the studio for some time with little movement. Ultimately, Jolie is rumored to favor in-development sequels to more recent hits like Maleficent or Salt if she wanted to go the franchise route, a path she has avoided since the failure of 2003’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.
The original Bride of Frankenstein was directed by James Whale and starred Boris Karloff as the monster and Elsa Lanchester as the titular bride, continuing the story that began with 1931’s Frankenstein. Compared to its predecessor it was a much lighter, more surreal film made with a certain degree of mocking meta humor, including an opening featuring Lanchester as author Mary Shelley.
(Photo credit: WENN)
