Chris Morgan

Over the last couple of years, we’ve heard a lot about Universal’s plans for a new shared universe of movies based on their classic monsters, and yet only one of those films — The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise — is currently in production. The studio has plans for a few more horror reboots from the creative team of Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, and it looks like one of those movies has a release date — but which one?

Universal is kicking off their rebooted monster universe in 2017 with The Mummy, with plans to redo classics like The Wolf Man, Bride of Frankenstein and The Creature From the Black Lagoon. While the studio’s mysterious strategy is still taking shape, they’ve lined up a major star to join Tom Cruise in their new shared monsters universe, casting Johnny Depp in their reboot of The Invisible Man.

In news that will make some of you very happy (looking at you, Matt Singer), Arnold Schwarzenegger says that he’s actively meeting with directors for his long-developing Conan the Barbarian sequel. Previously known as The Legend of Conan, the screenplay for the project is now complete and it may have a shiny new title.

Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan are heading the brain trust for Universal’s reboot of its classic monsters properties. Kurtzman is directing The Mummy, which will kick off the new, connected universe of films, but previous reports indicated that Universal was going for more of an action-adventure approach with the franchise instead of honoring their classic horror origins. Not so fast, says Kurtzman, who assures fans that these films will definitely have some horror to them.

There are a lot of heroes in the Fast & Furious movies, but the unsung hero of the Fast & Furious movies is screenwriter Chris Morgan, who joined the franchise at its lowest point and helped transform a dying property about a couple of street racers into one of the most popular series (with one of the most cleverly complex mythologies) in all of Hollywood. It was Morgan’s idea to take the series international for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and to bring back the original franchise stars, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, which happened in the fourth film, 2009’s Fast & Furious. Six years later, Furious 7 is primed to open in theaters, and even after the tragic passing of Walker in 2013, the series now shows no signs of slowing down. Diesel’s so confident in the movie that he’s already predicted it will win the Best Picture Oscar at next year’s Academy Awards (Morgan’s reaction when I asked if he wanted to double down on Diesel’s bet: “Uh ... [laughs] no comment.”)