©Courtesy of Universal Pictures 

Horror director James Wan is reportedly set to helm a new adaptation of the Universal Pictures classic 3-D film, Creature from the Black Lagoon, with a script by Will Beall. Originally made in 1954, the film starred Julie Adams and Richard Carlson in a gruesome tale of a scientific expedition to the Amazon that had been massacred by a humanoid, fish-like creature known as the Gill-Man.

According to published reports, Wan will be moving forward on the Black Lagoon remake before he starts work on his previously announced project, an adaptation of the 1928 H. P. Lovecraft short story “The Call of Cthuthu.”

Wan’s recent projects have included Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the latter of which was scripted by Beall. Other of Beall’s credits include episodes of Castle as well as scripts for the new Training Day series and Gangster Squad.

Born in Malaysia, Wan, 47, is an Australian film director who has carved out a niche for himself in the horror genre. He is especially known as the creator of The Conjuring Universe, which is the highest-grossing horror franchise, having earned more than $2 billion worldwide. Wan also founded the film and television production company known as Atomic Monster. It was announced in November of 2022 that Atomic Monster was in negotiations to merge with Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions, though each company would maintain its own creative autonomy and brand identity.

Plans to remake Creature from the Black Lagoon have been floated over the past 30 years, with the involvement of a variety of filmmakers that have included John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro, Breck Eisner, John Landis, Ivan Reitman, and Carl Erik Rinsch.

It’s likely that the Black Lagoon remake will be included in Universal’s so-called Monsterverse alongside The Invisible Man and the soon-to-be-released Wolfman. A production timeline has not yet been announced.

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