Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer set to direct Chris Evans in Jekyll

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

DEEP IMPACT and ARMAGEDDON. VOLCANO and DANTE'S PEAK. A BUG'S LIFE and ANTZ. Now we can add UNTITLED UNIVERSAL DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE FILM and JEKYLL to the list.

While Russell Crowe has already been cast as Dr. Jekyll (but presumably not Mr. Hyde) in the new THE MUMMY – the jumping off point for the Universal Monster Movie Universe, which will presumably lead to his own film – there is another modern DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE story on the way starring Chris Evans in the titular role. It's called JEKYLL, and is based on a 2007 BBC series of the same name, that's more of a sequel to the original story as opposed to a straigh-up reboot. Here's the synopsis:

 Jackman, a modern-day descendant of Jekyll, is beginning to exhibit the trademark split personality. The father and husband abandons his family, without explaining why, and lives in a fortified basement with a psychiatric nurse as his ally. When they strap the doctor to a metal chair, she watches him transform into an alter ego who rages, shows heightened strength and speed and can be a charming, flirtatious scoundrel as well. The two personalities try to co-exist, even though one doesn’t remember what the other does while in control of the body. They use a microcassette to leave messages for each other. Unable to stay away from the family he left behind for their own safety, he visits his wife, Hyde assumes control and learns about them, and things grow very complicated.

Now JEKYLL has found its director in Ruben Fleischer, who made a name for himself with the funny and stylish ZOMBIELAND, but hadn't seemed to be able to repeat that success (though I enjoyed 30 MINUTES OR LESS and GANGSTER SQUAD for what they were). Let's hope he has better luck this time.

No firm release date has been set for JEKYLL, but you can next see Chris Evans in GIFTED on April 12th, 2017 and as everyone's favorite America-themed hero the year after that in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR.