Scrapped Bride of Frankenstein Reboot Would Have Been Set in Modern Day

Universal Picture’s Dark Universe and its reinvention of the classic monsters couldn’t be more dead, but that doesn’t mean that what might have been with the planned movies isn’t still a little interesting. Beyond The Mummy reboot starring Tom Cruise that was made plans were in place for others including an announced Bride of Frankenstein film. We know that Spider-Man 2‘s David Koepp had been tapped to work it out originally and even stayed on to continue trying to crack it after the Dark Universe was folded, and in a new interview he reveals even more about its narrative potential when the film was first conceived. 

“It was gonna be a great big movie,” Koepp said of the scrapped version of Bride of Frankenstein that was planned to fit into the Dark Universe. “Bill Condon was gonna direct it and then The Mummy detonated and that all fell apart. Then I did a much smaller version and I thought that was interesting, but that didn’t quite work out. I think someone else is taking a try now. So, I don’t know. I felt like Bride Of Frankenstein is a treasure obviously and it doesn’t belong to me. And I got two really good cracks at it, so definitely fair to let someone else have a try. So I don’t know what will work out with that…..It was going to be a very big lavish, beautiful, gothic horror production. And one idea I liked was the first thirty or forty pages took place in the 1870s as the Frankenstein movies do and then she became sort of inert for 150 years and was rediscovered and reawakened in the present day. And I thought that was cool.”

Koepp seems uncertain about the future of Bride of Frankesntein, having stayed on to retool it into is own movie and with reports previously revealing that Spider-Man produce Amy Pascal was interested in it as a property. After the Dark Universe failed to launch the studio’s plans for their monsters took on a new form, filmmaker-centric and standalone movies, which has so far resulted in 2020’s The Invisible Man and the upcoming Renfield starring Nicolas Cage. 

There’s still potential for the Bride of Frankenstein reboot/remake/sequel to get off the ground with the way that Universal is now treating these properties, but would horror fans be interested in seeing this iconic character in the modern era? Sound off with your thoughts below.