Back February 2020, right before theaters were shut down due to COVID, Leigh Whannell’s “The Invisible Man,” starring Elisabeth Moss, was released in theaters to much acclaim and commercial success.
The horror remake, made on a skimp $7 million budget, raked in closed to $144 million at the box-office. It felt like a horror indie, with Cronenberg vibes and stellar direction from Whannell. However, Hollywood can’t let a good thing go and it looks like a sequel might be happening.
On the latest episode of the Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Moss confirmed that her and Whannell are planning an ‘Invisible Man’ sequel:
We are closer than we’ve ever been to cracking it, and I feel very good about it, and we are very much intent on continuing that story.
Moss also confirmed that, despite rumors, she won’t be appearing in Whannell’s “Wolf Man,” which is currently shooting in New Zealand. However, the actress did mention that a crossover between the two films (part of Universal’s planned monster-verse) is the plan going forward:
I think that’s the idea of Universal in the future, if “Wolf Man” goes well and all of that, is to kind of revive that universe. But, no, unfortunately, I have not been asked to be in “Wolf Man.”
I’m a big fan of Whannell’s small, but effective filmography. His 2018 sci-fi mindbender “Upgrade” and 2020’s “The Invisible Man” were a thrilling marriage of Cronenberg and Verhoeven in their darkly satirical approaches to genre cinema.
Then again, I’d rather Whannell continues to make original films instead of contractually obliging himself with the monster-verse, which he seems to be doing at the moment. I’m sure his take on ‘Wolf Man’ will be an interesting one, but, hopefully, he can sneak a few passion projects in between the ‘monster-verse’ films.
Netflix and Skydance Animation have also called it quits. The two sides announced Monday that they're ending the animated film deal struck back in 2023, framing it as a mutual decision.