Dark Army: Paul Feig is determined to make Universal monster film

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Almost a year and a half has passed since it was announced that Bridesmaids / Ghostbusters 2016 director Paul Feig was set to write, direct, and produce (alongside Laura Fischer) a Universal monster movie called Dark Army, which would "include characters from Universal's classic monster library and original characters created by Feig." In May of last year, Feig said he had completed two drafts of the script, but Universal was hesitant to move forward with the project because it would require a higher budget. Collider recently caught up with Feig, and it sounds like Dark Army is still in the exact same position it was in eight months ago.

When asked for a Dark Army status update, Feig said, 

I love that project so much. I think the studio thinks it’s a little too expensive, perhaps. God as my witness, I’m gonna make that movie. I’m so obsessed with making that movie."

Feig went on to say that "one of the many reasons" he decided to direct the upcoming fantasy fairy tale The School for Good and Evil for Netflix is because 

there’s a lot of stuff I can work out in it, as far as effects and all that, that I can bring to Dark Army. I love (Dark Army). It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. It’s one of my favorite lead characters I’ve ever come up with. So, fingers crossed that we will make it someday."

So The School for Good and Evil will serve as a sort of training ground for Feig, to help him prepare for Dark Army… if Universal will let him make it. The studio decided to substantially lower the budgets of their monster movies after 2017's The Mummy had a budget so high that a $400 million box office haul was considered disappointing. They scrapped a big budget remake of The Bride of Frankenstein and found a more profitable path forward with Blumhouse's The Invisible Man.