Director of Abandoned Bride of Frankenstein Movie Claims the Studio Got “Cold Feet”

Back in 2017, Universal Pictures revealed that The Mummy was set to kick off their Dark Universe of Universal Monsters reboot films, with the next film in the series slated to be a Bride of Frankenstein remake, though director Bill Condon recently noted that he thinks the studio got cold feet after The Mummy‘s financial and critical disappointments, resulting in the abandonment of the endeavor. After The Mummy failed to make an impact with audiences, Bride of Frankenstein earned a series of delays before the studio confirmed the project had been delayed indefinitely. It is currently unclear if any iteration of the project will be moving forward in the near future.

“That was a heartbreaker, really. We were involved, we were prepping, we were deep into it,” Condon recently revealed to Collider. “I have to say, the simplest way to say it, is that, I think the whole … The Mummy, and not to say anything against the movie, the fact that that hadn’t worked for them and that was the beginning of this whole reinvention of their monsters, getting cold feet, at the end of the day. David Koepp was writing the script, I thought that it was unbelievably good, and we were on the verge of making a very beautiful movie, I thought. So that was a shame.”

Given how different the 1999 The Mummy was from the original 1932 movie, the 2017 The Mummy had a difficult time blending the horror roots with the action-adventure spirit of the previous remake. This led fans to speculate about what sort of path Bride of Frankenstein would follow.

When asked if he was allowed to reveal any details about his approach to the classic story, Condon admitted, “I don’t know if I am, honestly, because David, I think, is still involved in figuring out the new approach.”

The announcement of the Dark Universe even included big-name stars taking on iconic roles, only for all those plans to be seemingly scrapped. While Johnny Depp was originally announced to play the Invisible Man, that iteration of the project fell apart, allowing Upgrade writer/director Leigh Whannell to reimagine the concept for that upcoming reboot. Condon pointed out that spectacle of The Mummy and the proposed scale of Bride of Frankenstein might have conflicted with Universal’s plans for the franchise.

“I think to be fair, that’s probably what Universal was thinking at that time, too,” the filmmaker shared. “That, ultimately, the movie that we started was devised as a great, big movie, and, at the end of the day, probably these movies should be smaller.”

As far as this new Invisible Man offering an unconventional approach to the familiar story, Condon pointed out, “We were doing some of that there, too.”

Stay tuned for details on the possible future of the Dark Universe.

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