Universal may not be building a "Dark Universe" of connected monster movies anymore, but they do have a whole lot of monster projects in the works. Leigh Whannell, director of THE INVISIBLE MAN (watch it HERE), is now in talks to direct THE WOLFMAN, starring Ryan Gosling; Dexter Fletcher will be directing RENFIELD, a lighthearted and comedic story about Dracula's lackey; Elizabeth Banks is working on THE INVISIBLE WOMAN; Matt Stawski is set to direct the musical MONSTER MASH; Paul Feig is writing and directing DARK ARMY, which is said to involve monsters old and new. Chances are very good that the DRACULA movie Karyn Kusama will be directing for Blumhouse is going to end up at Universal. And now the studio has announced that TOY STORY 4 director Josh Cooley is going to write and direct a "live-action hybrid monster feature" called LITTLE MONSTERS.
No, this doesn't have anything to do with the 1989 Fred Savage / Howie Mandel kids' movie LITTLE MONSTERS, or the 2019 "Lupita Nyong'o vs. zombies" movie LITTLE MONSTERS.
This LITTLE MONSTERS is based on the artistic outlines and character designs of concept artist Crash McCreery, whose previous work has included JURASSIC PARK, GALAXY QUEST, VAN HELSING, GHOST RIDER, RANGO, JURASSIC WORLD, KONG: SKULL ISLAND, and the 2017 version of THE MUMMY (which can be seen HERE). The project is described as
a love letter to classic Hollywood and the history of filmmaking with a story that takes a multigenerational approach to Universal's classic monster characters.
Hearing of a multigenerational approach to monsters instantly makes me think of the Sony series HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, but hopefully this will turn out to be something much different.
LITTLE MONSTERS is being produced by Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films.