Creature From The Black Lagoon - Reboot

Reboot

In 1982, John Landis was keen on getting Arnold Stan to direct a remake of the film, and Nigel Kneale was commissioned to write the screenplay. Kneale completed the script, which involved a pair of creatures, one destructive and the other calm and sensitive, being persecuted by the US Navy. A decision to make the film in 3-D led to the remake being canceled by producers at Universal, both for budgetary concerns and to avoid a clash with Jaws 3-D. In July 1992, John Carpenter was developing the remake at Universal. Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris wrote a new script, and Universal offered Peter Jackson the director's position in 1995, but he chose to work on King Kong instead. In February 1996, Ivan Reitman was planning to direct the remake, but the outing never materialized. With the financial success of The Mummy remake in May 1999, development of the Creature from the Black Lagoon remake was revived.

In December 2001, Gary Ross signed on to write and produce the remake with his father, Arthur A. Ross, one of the original's writers. He told The Hollywood Reporter, "The story my father wrote embodies the clash between primitive men and civilized men, and that obviously makes it a fertile area for re-examination." In August 2002, Guillermo del Toro, a fan of the original, was attached as director. Because of his commitments to numerous other projects, Universal was forced to go without del Toro, and hired Tedi Sarafian (credited on Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) to write a script in March 2003.

In October 2005, Breck Eisner signed on as director. "As a kid, I remember loving Jack Arnold's original version of this film", he explained. "What I really want to do is update an iconic image from the '50s and bring in more of the sci-fi sensibility of Alien or John Carpenter's The Thing." Ross said in March 2007 the Gill-man's origin would be reinvented, with him being the result of a pharmaceutical corporation polluting the Amazon. "It's about the rainforest being exploited for profit", he said.

The film was delayed by the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike, and Eisner put The Crazies on his priority. Once he finishes filming that, he will begin filming Creature from the Black Lagoon in Manaus, Brazil and on the Amazon River in Peru. Eisner was inspired to shoot on location by Fitzcarraldo, and the boat set has been built. Eisner continued to rewrite the script, which will be a summer blockbuster full of "action and excitement, but scary". Eisner spent six months designing the new incarnation of the Gill-man with Mark McCreery (Jurassic Park, and Davy Jones' designer). The director said the design was "very faithful to the original, but updated", and that the Gill-man will still be sympathetic.

In 2009 it was reported that Carl Erik Rinsch might direct a 2010 remake that would be produced by Marc Abraham, Eric Newman and Gary Ross, however, a project featuring this ensemble had been abandoned by 2011.

In March of 2012, Universal announced that a reboot is in production, and will simply be referred to as The Black Lagoon rather than The Creature from the Black Lagoon, in order to distinguish the two versions. The film is expected to hit theaters by May of 2013.

In October 2012, the studio hired Dave Kajganich to write the film.