Eric Heisserer

Sandra Bullock has been relatively quiet as of late. She starred in Our Brand Is Crisis and lent her vocals to Minions in 2013, which means the last time anybody actually saw her face (sorry, Our Brand Is Crisis) was in 2013’s Gravity. Presumably, she’s been getting some quality time with the family while waiting for the right script, which has hopefully come in the form of the all-ladies Ocean’s 8 due next year. But today brings the news that the former Miss Congeniality has now laid plans for another future project, and this one’s going online.

In their unending battle to compete with the box-office behemoth that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Universal tapped their deep roster of classic horror properties for interlocking remakes that could form one larger narrative tapestry. The recent Dracula Untold was intended to launch the Universal Universe, or whatever better thing they decide to call it, but lackluster ticket sales gave studio higher-ups pause. They’ve since redoubled their efforts, hiring Sofia Boutella to play their Mummy and Tom Cruise as the target of her curses, Russell Crowe as their Dr. Jekyll, Javier Bardem in the role of Frankenstein’s monster, and Johnny Depp as The Invisible Man. But even with such extensive plans already laid out, Universal continues to expand.

And in news from the darker corner of DC’s movie universe, we finally have another update on Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Sandman film, based on Neil Gaiman’s beloved graphic novel series. Although David Goyer developed the treatment for the film, Gordon-Levitt has been searching for the perfect writer to tackle the screenplay, and it appears that he’s found someone quite familiar with horror.

It’s been a while since we had an update on Universal’s shared universe reboot of their classic monster characters, set to kick off with Alex Kurtzman’s redo of The Mummy in 2017. In addition to tackling famous monsters like The Wolfman and Dracula, the new cinematic universe also somewhat bizarrely includes a Van Helsing reboot, which has just tapped a pair of writers with sufficient experience in horror and sci-fi.