Universal continues their year of cleaning house having already put “At The Mountains Of Madness,” “Memphis,” “In The Heights,” “The Dark Tower,” “Clue” and “Ouija” out to pasture, and now yet another project has been given the pink slip.
Variety reports that Mary Harron‘s “Wicked Lovely” has been let go by the studio just two months after Harron was announced to direct. Admittedly, the premise was a bit ridiculous: it is an adaptation of Melissa Marr‘s first entry in a five-book series (franchise!), the story centered on “a young teen named Aislinn, who has seen dangerous faeries her entire life but has managed to survive by adhering to a strict set of rules that have kept her safe…until now. The 17-year-old finds herself torn between a seductive Faery king and the mortal she loves, and she must go against everything she was taught in order to confront a world she was raised to fear.” So yeah…dangerous faeries? No thanks.
It seems there is a major shakeup going on at Universal and after a patchy last couple of years that has seen some high stakes gambles underperform — “Green Zone,” “The Wolfman,” “Robin Hood,” “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” “Your Highness,” “The Dilemma” — so they are likely doing a rethink of their entire development slate.
As for “Wicked Lovely,” producers will be trying to set it up elsewhere so for now, Harron can focus on her next film, the vampire flick “The Moth Diaries,” as it gears up to hit Venice and TIFF.