James Wan’s ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ Movie Gets a Writer

In addition to Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu and Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man, another classic horror movie monster is getting ready for a return with director James Wan’s Creature from the Black Lagoon, in the works from Atomic Monster and Universal Pictures. The project has now landed a writer, Deadline reports today.

Sean Tretta (Mayans M.C., Star Trek: Picard) will write the film. Deadline notes, “The screenplay is based off a treatment written by James Wan, Rafael Jordan and Bryan Coyne.”

Deadline also reports, “Wan is in early talks to potentially direct a grounded modernized retelling that leans into visceral horror whilst paying respect to the original classic.”

Unlike fellow Universal Monsters classics including Frankenstein, Wolf Man, and Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon hasn’t been the subject of countless remakes over the years, which makes it ripe for revival here in the present day. Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winner The Shape of Water was heavily influenced by the classic tale, though not an official adaptation.

[Related] Swimming with Monsters: Why We Still Love ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’

Directed by Jack Arnold, the original Creature from the Black Lagoon came along two decades after Universal established themselves as horror powerhouses in the 1930s, released in 1954. It was followed by sequels Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), with various planned remakes over the years failing to ever see the light of day.

Filmmakers attached/approached for various unmade Creature projects over the years include John Carpenter, Peter Jackson, Ivan Reitman, and Breck Eisner, to name just a few.

It’s interesting to note that James Wan had recently intended to direct an Aquaman spinoff horror movie titled The Trench, but that project ultimately fell apart. It seems his Creature from the Black Lagoon movie will allow Wan to finally scratch that aquatic horror itch.