Universal recruits the writer of The Expendables to pen The Wolf Man

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Universal seems set on making a splash with their rebooted Universal Monsters franchise as they've been pulling out all the stops in order to gather up a large group of major stars. Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Angelina Jolie, Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp and Dwayne Johnson have either been attached to a monster flick or have been rumoured to be, which gives you a bit of an indication of the star power they're after. One of the many reboots taking place in Universal's new franchise will be THE WOLF MAN, and THR reports that there's been a bit of a shift behind-the-scenes.

Dave Callaham (THE EXPENDABLES) has been recruited by Universal to rewrite the script for THE WOLF MAN, following in the footsteps of Aaron Guzikowski (PRISONERS) who wrote the first draft. Callaham has also worked on GODZILLA, ZOMBIELAND 2 and created John Claude Van Johnson for Amazon. We're still not quite sure what to expect from THE WOLF MAN but earlier this summer there were rumblings that Universal was hoping to bring Dwayne Johnson on-board. There's been no further developments on that front but it would certainly be fitting given that Universal has been leaning towards giving these movies the action/adventure spin rather than leaving them in the realm of straight horror.

Universal last attempted to remake THE WOLF MAN back in 2010 with Benicio del Toro, Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins, but due to many last-minute shifts behind-the-scenes, the final product wound up being a frustrating movie which wasn't nearly as good as it should have been. The studio has clearly been investing quite a lot of time and money in their new Universal Monsters franchise and we can only hope that it will pay off. Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis and Sofia Boutella will lead THE MUMMY, the first installment of the new franchise (not counting DRACULA UNTOLD), which hits theaters on June 9, 2017.