Scarlett Johansson Courted For Lead In CREATURE OF THE BLACK LAGOON Remake

Scarlett Johansson is increasingly becoming the go-to girl for genre projects. Outside of her ongoing role as Black Widow in Marvel Studio’s Avengers, Iron Man and Captain America films, she has appeared in the science-fiction action pic Lucy, the science-fiction thriller Under The Skin and the comic book adaptations The Spirit and Ghost World in addition to the upcoming live-action adaptation of the classic anime Ghost In The Shell. And it appears as if she may be adding another high-profile genre project to that list – Universal’s in development remake of The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

The Tracking Board is reporting that Johansson has been approached to take the lead in the remake of the studio’s classic 1954 monster movie. If the new version follows the original, this would make her Kay Lawrence, a scientist who is part of an expedition up the Amazon to search from a rumored creature that may provide valuable information for evolutionary theory.

This latest remake attempt by the studio is part of their overall plans for a extended cinematic universe connecting a number of Universal’s classic horror monster franchises. Last year’s Dracula Untold was the first installment with the studio lining up director Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy for June 24, 2016 with an Untitled Universal Monster Franchise Film scheduled for April 27, 2017. If Universal is looking to plug Creature in there, they will need to get a move one. As of now, all the studio has is a screenplay that has been worked on by Jeff Blitz, Gary Ross, Tedi Sarafian and Paul Schering. Outside of Johansson, there has been no word on casting and there is no director hired. Producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan are currently overseeing Universal’s monster universe plans.

Directed by Jack Arnold, the original Creature From The Black Lagoon was the first in a trilogy that marked the last hurrah of the studio’s run of monster films. The studio has been trying to get a remake mounted since 1982 when John Landis was involved. Over the years John Carpenter, Gary Ross, Carl Rinsch, Breck Eisner and Guillermo Del Toro have all made an attempt to bring the Creature to the big screen but those version all failed to materialize for one reason or another.