Report: After Charlie’s Angels Box Office Failure, Elizabeth Banks Tapped To Direct and Star in Invisible Woman for Universal

Jorge Arenas |

Nov 27, 2019

Director and actress Elizabeth Banks will be directing and starring in a new Invisible Woman film from Universal following her box office failure with Charlie’s Angels.

According to a report from Variety’s Justin Kroll, Banks will star and direct in the film “based on her original pitch.”

An accurate representation of me before turkey dinner / after turkey dinner. pic.twitter.com/H57R3QG7SI

— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) November 26, 2019

Banks will team up with The Girl on the Train scriptwriter Erin Cressida Wilson. She will also produce alongside Max Handelman.

So far, plot details are unknown, but Kroll reports that his sources tell him, “Banks’ pitch is very different from the “Invisible Man” film coming out in February that stars Elisabeth Moss, and there is no crossover potential on either film.”

This could mean that the film might pull from its comedic origins.

The Invisible Woman was originally a 1940 film released by Universal that starred Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charlie Ruggles, and Oscar Homolka.

It was the third Invisible Man following The Invisible man and The Invisible Man Returns.

https://youtu.be/KiPqzcLgjs0

The film centered on a fired department store model being the first test subject for an invisibility machine. She uses her newfound ability to get back at her mean boss, and has to defend the experimental machine from gangster Blackie Cole and his gang who want to steal the device.

This announcement comes two years after Universal scrapped the idea of an interconnected “Dark Universe” that was supposed to launch in 2017 with The Mummy starring Tom Cruise.

That film failed at the box office only grossing $80 million domestically and $409.9 million worldwide. It had an estimated $195 million production budget.

Kroll reports Universal is approaching their monster IPs similar to how DC approached Joker.

He writes:

“The studio had originally planned on creating an interconnected universe with its vast catalog of monster IP. However, the studio reassessed, and decided to move forward with filmmaker-driven projects based on the monsters’ legacies, focusing on what made the characters endure over time.”

By taking this approach they are allowing filmmakers to come up with their own concepts and stories based upon their famous monsters.

The announcement of Invisible Woman follows the news of Paul Feig’s Dark Army and Dexter Fletcher’s Renfield. Renfield will follows Dracula’s best-known henchmen, R.M. Renfield, who appears in Bram Stoker’s 1897 classic horror novel.

There is no release date for Elizabeth Bank’s Invisible Woman.

Are you interested in seeing Elizabeth Banks’ version of The Invisible Woman?