Pre-production on the rebooted Bride of Frankenstein has halted while director Bill Condon and screenwriter David Koepp take another pass at the script.
Whelp, that was fast. Just two days after Collider published an interview in which director Bill Condon said his new Bride of Frankenstein would have “nothing” to do with Universal’s Dark Universe or its under-achieving tentpole, news has broken that the reboot has been pulled from the schedule. The film was originally set to begin shooting in early 2018 for a Feb. 14, 2019 release.
According to Variety, Condon and screenwriter David Koepp need more time with the script. Koepp’s screenplay reportedly turns James Whale’s 1935 original on its head, and will see Frankenstein first create a female monster and, subsequently, a male mate. In the classic Bride of Frankenstein the titular character only appears in the last 10 minutes or so. Koepp’s premise sounds interesting, so we’re hoping that, as Variety writes, the existing story is actually “in good shape” and Condon and Koepp will make it even better.
As for Universal, it issued a press release stating that it is still committed to Bride of Frankenstein and remains confident in Condon’s vision:
"“None of us want to move too quickly to meet a release date when we know this special movie needs more time to come together. Bill is a director whose enormous talent has been proven time and again, and we all look forward to continuing to work on this film together.”"
For those of you who are new to the party, Bride of Frankenstein is technically a part of Universal’s Dark Universe, a franchise of rebooted horror classics that kicked off in June with Tom Cruise-starrer The Mummy. Since The Mummy flopped both at the box office and with critics, a lot is riding on Bride of Frankenstein–even if the Dark Universe isn’t a huge priority for Condon, you can bet it is for Universal.
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No word on exactly how long Universal will hold off Bride of Frankenstein‘s pre-production, but Javier Bardem is attached to play Frankenstein’s monster and Angelina Jolie is in talks for the role of the Bride. With star power like that, it’s doubtful that the studio will want to put off the project for too much time.