James Wan Developing ‘Creature From The Black Lagoon’ Movie For Universal

In what would mark the first film James Wan would direct since merging his Atomic Monster banner with Blumhouse, Deadline has learned he is in early talks to potentially helm The Creature From the Black Lagoon for Atomic Monster and Universal Pictures. Wan is developing a grounded modernized retelling that leans into visceral horror while paying respect to the original classic.

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Wan will produce the film under the Atomic Monster banner with Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Judson Scott exec producing. EVP of Production Development Jay Polidoro will oversee for Universal.

The Creature From the Black Lagoon has been a high priority for Universal since the studio revamped its monster movies strategy in 2019 to focusing on filmmaker-driven projects. Given Wan’s track record in the horror genre that includes the hit Saw and The Conjuring franchises, this property falls right in his wheelhouse.

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Wan, founder and CEO of Atomic Monster, is a world-building pioneer who counts no fewer than four franchises – Aquaman, The Conjuring, Insidious and Saw – along with Mortal Kombat and M3GAN , all of which captured the global zeitgeist of the moment. Wan is also in an elite group of directors with two films that have earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box office: Furious 7 (the first Universal Studios film to hit $1 billion) and Aquaman . He most recently directed Aquaman and the Last Kingdom , the sequel to the 2018 original that is DC’s top worldwide-grossing film of all time.

Wan is represented by CAA, Stacey Testro International, and Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light.

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