The Fly: Nikyatu Jusu to write and direct a film set in the universe of David Cronenberg’s remake

Back in 1986, David Cronenberg directed a remake of Kurt Neumann’s 1958 sci-fi horror classic The Fly (which was based on George Langelaan’s short story) – and the result is considered to be one of the best remakes of all time. 20th Century Fox, now the Disney subsidiary 20th Century Studios, has been wanting to replicate that success with another remake for a couple of decades now… but the project has never managed to escape from development hell. Cronenberg wanted to come back and make another Fly movie, but it fell apart over budgetary issues. Screenwriter Todd Lincoln wrote a remake of The Fly that he described as a “dark, twisted, grounded re- imagining… Part Val-Lewton, part J.G. Ballard, part Neal Stephenson with some Horror Manga touches.” The studio wasn’t into it. J.D. Dillard was attached to direct a new version of The Fly for years, then stepped away from it. Now, Deadline reports that Nikyatu Jusu – who recently made her feature directorial debut with the horror film Nanny – is set to write and direct a new version of The Fly for 20th Century Studios and Chernin Entertainment, but sources say that this isn’t a straightforward remake. Instead, it’s a story that’s “set in the universe of Cronenberg’s film.” So it seems this is some kind of sequel or spin-off.

The Fly told the story of a brilliant scientist who becomes obsessed with perfecting a device that can transmit matter from one location to another. Successful in his initial tests, he experiments with a human guinea pig – himself. But an ordinary housefly makes the journey with him, and when they merge both creatures have been extraordinarily changed. This is the chilling story of a man fighting to retain his humanity, and a desperate woman’s attempt to save the man she loves.

The 1958 film received two sequels, Return of the Fly and Curse of the Fly. Cronenberg’s film got a sequel as well, The Fly II, before the franchise sputtered out again. The Fly ’86 co-star Geena Davis was going to star in and produce a sequel called Flies, but that’s another Fly project that never made it into production.

Nikyatu Jusu’s The Fly is set to be produced by Chernin Entertainment’s Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping. Jusu is also developing a project for Universal Pictures and Jordan Peele’s company Monkeypaw that’s said to be based on her short film Suicide by Sunlight, about day-walking Black vampires who are protected from the sun by their melanin, and she’s attached to direct a sequel to the George A. Romero classic Night of the Living Dead for MGM. For that film, she’ll be working from a screenplay by LaToya Morgan, whose credits include episodes of Shameless, Parenthood, Into the Badlands, and The Walking Dead. Details on the plot are being kept under wraps.

Are you glad to hear there’s a new The Fly back in the works? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.