Director/producer Paul Feig offers a Dark Army monster movie update, believing studios still think it to be too expensive to properly make. Feig has enjoyed a successful career both in front of and behind the camera over the past 35 years, having starred in cult hit Heavyweights and fan-favorite comedy series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch while also having created the beloved short-lived comedy series Freaks and Geeks. Feige is best known for his frequent collaborations with Melissa McCarthy, including the Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated Bridesmaids and the divisive Ghostbusters reboot.

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Development on Dark Army was first announced in late 2019 when Feig partnered with Universal Pictures to write, direct and produce the film via his Feigco Productions banner, for which he signed a deal with the studio after Disney’s acquisition of Fox. Plot details have remained under lock and key for the film in the three years since it was put in the works, with the only information known that it would utilize both classic Universal Monsters and original characters created by the filmmaker. While Feig has kept himself busy with Netflix’s adaptation of The School for Good and Evil, he hasn’t lost his sights on his monster movie passion project.

While speaking with Collider for the HBO Max comedy series Minx, Paul Feig opened up about the long-gestating Dark Army monster movie. Feig says studios still find the project to be too expensive to put their trust behind it but remains hopeful he will get to make it one day. See what Feig shared below:

“That’s one driving me crazy. The problem with that is that some people read it and think it’s too expensive. I never saw it that way, but that’s what I hear. I’m still working on it and trying to get it to that sweet spot, but it’s hard. I don’t even want to tell you about a couple of other things that we can’t get sold. It’s like, “Oh, my God, who wouldn’t want this?” But probably every producer in town feels that way too. I have to make a monster movie. I have to make my monster movie.”

Dark Army was originally announced as Universal Pictures were looking to revamp their classic monsters roster for a variety of projects, including Javier Bardem and Angelina Jolie’s The Bride of Frankenstein and Johnny Depp’s The Invisible Man as part of their shared cinematic universe plans. With Tom Cruise’s The Mummy proving to be a critical and commercial bomb upon its 2017 release, the Dark Universe was shelved by the studio, though after a couple of years Universal would return with plans for standalone projects beginning with Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, which has received rave reviews and was a box office smash, grossing over $143 million against its $7 million budget. The studio is looking to keep this ball rolling as they’ve put the Dracula-based Renfield into production from Chris McKay and Robert Kirkman and starring Nicolas Cage as the iconic vampire and Nicholas Hoult as his titular henchman.

With Universal also working on a Wolf Man reboot starring Ryan Gosling based on a concept from the actor and written and directed by prior collaborator Derek Cianfrance, the possibility is open for Paul Feig’s Dark Army to get off the ground at the studio. That being said, with Feig indicating his vision for the monster movie is too expensive for most studios, Universal might not have the confidence to put a larger budget behind the resurgent genre. In the meantime, audiences can look forward to Feig bringing the world of The School for Good and Evil to life on Netflix later this year.

Source: Collider

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Grant Hermanns
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Grant Hermanns is a News Writer, Interviewer and Hiring Manager for Screen Rant, having joined the team in early 2021. Way back in 2015 while still in his college days, Grant got his start in the entertainment journalism industry with creator-friendly site Moviepilot until it shuttered nearly three years later. From there he joined the staff at ComingSoon.net and was its Associate Editor prior to coming over to Screen Rant.

To say he’s a lover of film and television would be an understatement and when he’s not mass consuming either you can find him exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends or slowly making his way through his gaming backlog.

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