Universal Wants Angelina Jolie to Be Their ‘Bride of Frankenstein’

Angelina Jolie’s latest directorial effort was a bit of a risk for Universal, and one that doesn’t seem to be paying off as By the Sea has made less than half a million at the box office and word-of-mouth has been…less than kind. But it looks like the studio may have been well-prepared to take that risk, as a new report suggests that they took an interesting approach to negotiating their deal to produce Jolie’s film — and they have a couple of ideas for how the actress and director can pay them back.

THR published a very intriguing piece about “favor” movies, citing Universal’s risky investment on By the Sea, which has proven a huge loss for the studio. But there’s another particularly interesting tidbit in the report, which suggests that Universal wants Jolie to return the favor by starring in either Bride of Frankenstein or Wanted 2.

The studio’s desire to recruit Jolie for the sequel to 2008's Wanted has been rumored for years, with many scoffing at the idea given the film’s ending.

Bride of Frankenstein has also been in the works at Universal for years, with a script by Neil Burger (Divergent) and Dirk Wittenborn (The Lucky Ones), with Burger attached to direct. It’s not clear if that’s still the case, though the report indicates that the remake is now part of Universal’s shared universe reboot of their classic monster characters, which is being overseen by Chris Morgan (Fast and Furious) and Alex Kurtzman — the latter of whom is kicking the new franchise off with his reboot of The Mummy, set to hit theaters in 2017.

Morgan also wrote Wanted, so it seems that the studio is eager to get him back together with Jolie on either project, which would likely result in a much larger box office return than By the Sea.

While the report does not indicate that Jolie explicitly agreed to either project in exchange for backing on By the Sea, it does note that Universal hopes she will be “amenable” to appearing in either film now that her latest has tanked. Of the two, Bride of Frankenstein definitely sounds more compelling and has more creative potential.