VAN HELSING: James Wan’s New R-Rated Reboot Snags Director
Mike Sprague
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James Wan (The Conjuring) is producing a Van Helsing reboot for Universal. And today we learned the project has snagged director Julius Avery (Overlord).
Better yet, considering the success of The Invisible Man and Avery’s Overlord, it’s speculated this will be a much darker – R-rated – take on the character.
Avery just wrapped shooting on the upcoming MGM thriller Samaritan starring Sylvester Stallone. He is rewriting Eric Pearson’s (Black Widow) original script as we speak. The logline is under wraps. Wan will produce with Michael Clear.
Judson Scott will serve as executive producer.
RELATED: Writer Eric Heisserer Talks Making VAN HELSING Scary Again
Van Helsing rebooted (semi-successfully) back in 2004 by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Deep Rising) with Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale.
That version found the monster slayer dispatched to Transylvania to assist the last of the Valerious bloodline in defeating Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh). Anna Valerious (Beckinsale) reveals that Dracula has formed an unholy alliance with Dr. Frankenstein’s monster (Shuler Hensley). And they are hell-bent on exacting a centuries-old curse on her family. Together Anna and Van Helsing set out to destroy their common enemy, but uncover some unsettling secrets along the way.
The film sports a 24% approval rating over on Rotten Tomatoes with a Critics Consensus that reads: A hollow creature feature that suffers from CGI overload.
In May 2012, Universal Pictures nabbed Alex Kurtzman and also Roberto Orci (Star Trek) to produce a modern-day reboot. Tom Cruise was set to star. Rupert Sanders was in negotiations to direct from a screenplay written by Jon Spaihts and also Eric Heisserer. But Cruise left the film and chose to appear in The Mummy reboot.
And we all know how THAT went…
Are you also up for James Wan and Julius Avery’s Van Helsing reboot?
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