Jason Blum wants to make a Frankenstein film. Blum is the founder of Blumhouse Productions, currently working under a First Look production deal with Universal Pictures. The company mainly focuses on the horror/thriller genre and is responsible for films such as Saw, Insidious, Exit, and Halloween Reboot. They, on occasion, dipped their toes into plays with movies like Whiplash and more straight.
The Blumhouse model has proved to be very active within the Hollywood landscape. The company aims to produce films using a relatively small budget, also opening the door to a chance at more substantial profits. Exit, for example, was produced for $ 4.5 million and brought in an estimated $ 255 million at the worldwide box office. This increasingly goes against the recent trend of big films having big budgets. It is not uncommon for the latest superhero film to cost millions of dollars to produce. Jason Blum, on the other hand, is more concerned with using small budgets to promote creative talents like James Van or Jordan Peele.
Now, according to the development of the horror podcast (via ComicBook), fans may be one step closer to the Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s classic monster story, Blumhouse is getting treatment. It is not to say that anything is currently under development, but that Jason Blum would be interested in dealing with the material. Blum said in regards to the Frankenstein story, “I would love to try, and I am waiting for the great idea.” After Universal gave him the king to a character like Invisible Man, Blum seems to think that he could successfully deal with other, similar material.
Blumhouse made headlines this past weekend with its opening of Invisible Man, directed by Leigh Whannell. The film’s star, Elisabeth Kai, puts a contemporary spin on HG, and Khair is the original story. The film received a 91% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and scored a 4% fan approval rating. That, combined with the $ 29,000,000 three-day opening and its $ 4,000,000 budget, makes the release another big win for the company.
The news seems appropriate considering the success Blumhouse had just perfected a classic monster character. The success of a film like Invisible Man is proof that, when done right, viewers will flock to the theater to see these types of stories. While Mummy 2014 failed to kick off a cinematic Dark Universe for Universal, Invisible Man would not follow a similar fate. Although Jason Blum may not be looking to create an Avengers-like cinematic universe with his company’s films, he may be inspired to continue supporting modern-day spins, likewise on classic monster stories. Frankenstein’s monster is the perfect character for him. Recent iterations, such as I, Frankenstein, and Victor Frankenstein, have not performed well at the critical or box office. If this were done right, the Frankenstein idea could attract a lot of attention and provide Blumhouse with another huge financial and critical success.
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