‘The Wolf Man’ is the Latest Universal Monster to Get Rebooted

Universal is working overtime to revive its classic monster movies for the modern age, handing the reins of 'The Mummy' over to writer Jon Spaihts and director Alex Kurtzman and a still-unannounced mystery movie to 'Fargo' creator Noah Hawley. The latest classic creature to get a big screen revival is 'The Wolf Man,' a character whose legacy as a horror great trumps the fact that his last big-screen appearance was one of the biggest disasters in the studio's history.

The news of the Wolf Man's resurrection comes in a Deadline article about Universal's upcoming slate of films (which is mostly all about pumping out more 'Fast & Furious' movies). Apparently, 'Prisoners' screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski is being courted for the gig, but other details are, for the moment, still buried (which is a terrific pun if you've seen 'Prisoners,' we promise).

The original 'Wolf Man' was released in 1941 and starred Lon Chaney Jr. as Lawrence Talbot, a normal man whose encounter with a lycanthrope causes him to transform into a beast when the moon is full. It's one of the greatest horror stories ever told and Talbot is one of the best and most tragic characters in the genre. Benicio del Toro played the character in the 2010 remake, whose nightmarish production was apparently a much more tragic horror story than the one that appeared in the actual film.

The reboot of 'The Mummy' is set to hit theaters in 2016 and that mystery movie (we'll make an educated guess and say it's a new 'Van Helsing') will arrive in 2017. We don't know where the new 'Wolf Man' will fit in Universal's upcoming schedule, but 2016 is the 75th anniversary of the original film. So let's end on that Rhetorical Question of the Day: Could Universal be rushing a new 'Wolf Man' movie into production to capitalize on a date that only hardcore movie fans care about? We'll know soon enough.