Creature from the Black Lagoon: Universal turned down James Gunn’s reboot

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

James Gunn is very interested in remaking Creature from the Black Lagoon but he's revealing that Universal Pictures turned his reboot pitch of the classic movie monster.

Gunn took to his Instagram story where he posted that he was on his way home from set and was willing to answer any and all fan questions. The director was asked which Universal monster movie he would remake, and he responded with Creature from the Black Lagoon. That is when he revealed he pitched the idea for a reboot after working on the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. You can check out a screengrab of his response below!

Unfortunately, Gunn didn't go into detail about what his pitch actually was for the reboot or why they turned it down. Universal Pictures originally tried to create the Dark Universe, which would have been composed of modern updates of their classic monster films. After Tom Cruise's The Mummy underperformed at the box office and wasn't met with raves from critics back in 2017, the Dark Universe was seemingly canceled. 

Then, in 2020, Leigh Whannell's Invisible Man was both a critical and box office hit when it was released last year right before the global pandemic hit and it reignited interest in adapting the movie monsters once again. Universal is now moving forward with several modern adaptations of the classic movie monsters, most notably Chloe Zhao's Dracula.

I have to wonder if Universal would accept his pitch for a Creature from the Black Lagoon remake now. The director is in a much better position now having directed the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and stepping into the world of DC Comics by helming The Suicide Squad. I have a feeling that someone at Universal would definitely give his pitch another shot today.

The original Creature from the Black Lagoon, released in 1954, is a classic of the movie monster sub-genre. The film follows an odd creature that conceals itself within the Amazonian jungle. His concealment is threatened when a group of people heads into its territory to contain the creature for research purposes. The film went on to spawn two sequels, Revenge of the Creature in 1955 and The Creature Walks Among Us in 1956.

Would YOU be interested in a Creature from the Black Lagoon remake from James Gunn?