The filmmakers of “Don’t Move” and “Werewolves Within” both want to make a new “Darkman” film

Fresh from her Netflix thriller Don’t movewhich was produced by Sam Raimi as part of Raimi’s collaboration with the filmmakers of the Quibi series “50 States of Fright” and the directors Brian Net And Adam Schindler have a dream project in mind. They want to bring Darkman Back to Life, a character introduced by Sam Raimi in his 1990 franchise launch film.

Liam Neeson played the title character in Raimi and Universal Darkmanwhich essentially combined the superhero film and the classic Universal Monsters film. Neeson’s Peyton Westlake was a brilliant scientist who was left for dead in a violent attack and ended up becoming a dark superhero who returns to seek revenge on the people who burned him alive.

Darkman Two sequels followed, Darkman II: The Return of Durant in 1995 and Darkman III: The Darkman Die in 1996, but the franchise hasn’t been heard from in the last 30+ years. But Neeson has expressed interest in reprising the role and filmmaker Josh Ruben (Scare me, werewolves inside) has advocated for a new director Darkman Reboot film has been around for some time now, with Raimi himself hinting a few years ago that Universal was actively considering bringing the franchise back. If Netto and Schindler have their way, they will consider directing.

“If we’re talking about Sam, then so be it Darkman” Schindler recently told The Hollywood Reporter when he and Netto were asked about their ultimate dream project. He continued: “We talked about it Darkman (with Sam Raimi). We have a love and an affinity for Darkman.”

Brian Netto chimed in and echoed the same sentiments. He said: “Darkman was my favorite film for much of my life. It was The Movie, then Darkman would be really interesting.”

It is interesting to note that Josh Ruben also recently addressed his topic Darkman Dream again in a post on the new social media platform Bluesky. Ruben even laid out his pitch in one thread!

Ruben teases: “I wanted to do a Legacy sequel (OK, not that original, but there’s more). I wanted to start with… rethink? like something else. Darkman is a wild concept and we need a reboot, a fresh (new) way into it.” He continues: “I wanted to position this film as a paranoid thriller about a sweet young woman tormented by recurring nightmares of a disfigured man. “She’s starting to become convinced that her nightmares could be manifesting in her real life.”

The filmmaker then shares images of his pitch deck for a potential candidate Darkman Film in which he describes his vision as “nightmarish, trippy, colorful, funny, strange.” He notes: “What begins as a stalking horror evolves into a father-daughter love story in the style of Universal Monsters… and then into a gritty superhero film, ‘Creepy Batman.'” Read Ruben’s full pitch on Bluesky now.

Stay tuned to learn more about the future of the Darkman Franchise as we learn it.