Max Landis Might Be Developing ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon’ Remake

Filmmaker Max Landis was in the midst of developing a variety of projects when accusations of sexual assault surfaced last December, leading the filmmaker to shy away from the spotlight. Over on his personal Instagram account, Landis offered teases of the projects he’s been developing, with some of his fans theorizing he’s been quietly working on a Creature From the Black Lagoon reboot.

When discussing on his Instagram story the projects he was developing, the filmmaker resorted to abbreviating the titles, with one being shortened to “AWIL.” This would likely mean “American Werewolf in London,” a project he has publicly discussed previously. He also used the abbreviation, “CFBL,” with many fans assuming this translates to “Creature From the Black Lagoon.”

One complication in this hypothesis is the current status of Universal Pictures’ Dark Universe of monster movies. The franchise launched last year with The Mummy, which coincided with the announcement that Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp, and Javier Bardem were all involved with the series and would star in films in the future.

Unfortunately, The Mummy was both a critical and financial disappointment, seemingly killing the Dark Universe before it had the chance to continue. The next planned project was Bride of Frankenstein, with Universal announcing in October that the film was on an indefinite hiatus.

“After thoughtful consideration, Universal Pictures and director Bill Condon have decided to postpone Bride of Frankenstein,” the statement read, as reported by The Wrap. “None of us want to move too quickly to meet a release date when we know this special movie needs more time to come together. Bill is a director whose enormous talent has been proven time and again, and we all look forward to continuing to work on this film together.”

With American Werewolf in London also being owned by Universal, it’s possible that the studio is quietly developing their shared Dark Universe without making official announcements as to not run the risk of promoting projects that might not ultimately come to fruition.

Last year’s Best Picture winner was Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, which was heavily inspired by Creature. From one perspective, a Creature remake would feel too similar to Shape of Water to head into production anytime soon, yet another perspective is that the proven success of del Toro’s movie confirms how successful the reboot could be.

Stay tuned for details on Landis’ next project and the future of the Dark Universe.

Do you think the filmmaker could be crafting a reboot? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T Reddit]