You gotta wonder how much money Universal is paying out to land A-list stars for their brewing mega-movie monster cinematic universe. They’ve already landed Tom Cruise for "The Mummy," and now another big name is set to revive a classic catalog character for the studio.
Deadline reports that Johnny Depp will star in "The Invisible Man." And perhaps the most interesting thing is that right now, there’s no director attached, which tends to be on the major lures to snag someone like Depp (even for something like "Mortdecai," which was helmed by his pal David Koepp). At any rate, he’ll be the guy who gains the power of invisibility but pays a heavy price for his special abilities. The casting is crucial for Universal, who now have two major-league, A-list stars to help bring these monsters abroad, which is likely where they are expecting/hoping to reap the most box-office rewards.
READ MORE: 5 Ways Johnny Depp Can Get His Career Back On Track Post-‘Mortdecai’
As for the concept, there’s no word yet, but back way back in 2007, David S. Goyer had signed on to write and direct a new take. “It’s a period film but it’s period like Downey’s ’Sherlock Holmes,’” Goyer said in 2011 about his reimagining of H.G. Wells’ book. “It’s period but it’s a reinvention of the character in the sort of way that Stephen Sommers exploded ‘The Mummy’ into a much bigger kind of mythology. That’s kind of what we’ve done with ‘The Invisible Man.’” Interesting, but we’ll see if the studio sticks to that approach.
Meanwhile, there’s something else to consider. With plans for an interconnected universe, could we expect Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp in the same monster movie down the line? You can bet Universal wants that to happen.
