Elisabeth Moss, the actor best known for her role in The Handmaid’s Tale and Mad Men, delivered a captivating performance in the 2020 horror remake of The Invisible Man. The film was highly successful, and everyone believed that Universal Pictures and Blumhouse would follow up with a sequel (especially with the film’s ending). However, nothing happened and director Leigh Whannell instead moved onto another character from the Universal Classic Monsters catalog with Wolf Man. Five years have gone by, and though Whannell has apparently called it quits on a follow-up, Moss herself hopes that the story will be revived with a sequel.
The Golden Globe and Emmy winner recently talked to ScreenRant about reprising her role as Cecilia in The Invisible Man 2. For now, it seems that Universal and Blumhouse are not interested in making a sequel, with Whannell saying last January that “on an artistic level, I’m like, ‘That’s a nice, closed door there. Let’s just leave it closed.'” Nevertheless, Moss still believes in the project, and says that they’re “working on it”:
“It was out for two weeks before COVID and made hundreds of millions of dollars. We could have easily just churned out a sequel and thrown it up on streaming and called it a day, and I think some people would’ve made money off of that.
I am so grateful to Universal and Blum for not doing that and for having a standard that’s unusual in these circumstances and really wanting it to be worth doing. So it’s an unusual thing, but that doesn’t usually happen. But I feel like it’s important. We love that movie so much. The people who made it – we’re so proud of it.
We really want to make sure [that] if we do a sequel, it’s worthy, and it’s going to have to be as good if not better. So that’s been kind of what’s slowed us down. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think if we’re going to do it, it’s got to be right. But we still want to do it. We’re still working on it. We just have to get the right script together.”
‘The Invisible Man’ Was the Last Big Horror Movie Before COVID-19 Changed Cinema Forever
Released in February 2020, The Invisible Man was met with rave reviews from both critics and audiences alike, and quickly made a dent at the box office after grossing $144 million from a small $7 million budget. However, this number could have been significantly higher, had it not been for the unexpected arrival of COVID-19, with the global pandemic quickly changing the way people attended theaters.
The Invisible Man was in some ways experimental. It was one of the first big studio films to be released on digital a few weeks after the original release in theaters, a model that has now become the norm. Today, most movies, successful or not, are available on digital platforms rather quickly. Theatrical runs are shorter, and the chances of landing huge box office numbers have become rarer, with a star’s presence and the power of franchises and known IPs becoming more important than ever. But with horror movies being much less risky than other genres thanks to their low budgets, wide appeal, and consistently profitable box office takings, and with Elisabeth Moss on board, The Invisible Man 2 would be a smart bet in the current cinematic climate.
- Release Date
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February 28, 2020
- Runtime
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124 minutes