Last week we reported that Fox had offered Night At The Museum and Real Steel director Shawn Levy their Frankenstein project, partly in an attempt to keep him on board Fantastic Voyage which has been delayed by production problems and difficulty getting a suitable cast together.
Now Variety reports that Levy has signed up for the film, which will be based on a script by Max Landis (son of John), and is described as ‘a sci-fi take on the traditional Mary Shelley story, focusing on themes of friendship and redemption’.
However the race is now on, as there are numerous other Frankenstein movies in various stages of development all over Hollywood (interest in the tale was apparently ignited by Danny Boyle’s recent stage production), leading to a situation even worse than earlier this year when everyone and their dog was trying to make a movie based on Snow White. There are at least seven films and a TV series in the works, all with different takes of the tale, from one looking at Dr. Frankenstein as a teen to others that bring the story into the modern day.
Fox’s film seems to be ahead of the pack at the moment, with the hope being it can start shooting before the end of the year. However, quite what this means for the development of Fantastic Voyage and when that might finally get in front of the cameras isn’t clear.