Van Helsing will be the latest monster movie to receive a shiny new reboot, with Universal commissioning Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to knock together a script freshening up the legendary vampire hunter.
With Tom Cruise in place to star, Kurtzman has been discussing what their aim is for this new version of a property last seen in 2004. And from the sounds of it, a total do-over seemingly the order of the day.
"I don’t want to give away too much" he says, "because we are actually at the very beginning of talking about what to do with it. But I do feel like the Van Helsing that Anthony Hopkins plays in [ Bram Stoker’s ] Dracula is sort of the parody version of it, and the Van Helsing that Hugh Jackman played was obviously in a different place as well. I think that these kinds of movies have evolved a lot since then."
" The Dark Knight was a major, major corner-turning moment in the way that genre and superhero stories could be told," he continues. "Really grounded in reality. Really grounded in really cool things. That’s what I’d like to do without sacrificing the fantasy element. We aspired to do that as well on Star Trek , and we’d love to do that with Van Helsing ."
With a rebooted version of The Mummy also on their agenda, it should be a busy period for Kurtzman and Orci, and a profitable one for Universal. The monsters are back in business...
