Chris McKay to Helm Universal's Dracula Spinoff Monster Movie RENFIELD

Director Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie 1 & 2) has boarded the film Renfield, a Dracula spin-off story that will be Universal’s next monster movie. McKay will direct and produce the monster movie centered on Dracula’s familiar henchman and based on an original story outline from Robert Kirkman. McKay’s producing partner Samantha Nisenboim will be joining the project as executive producer.

Ryan Ridley wrote the updated script for the film. In the original Dracula novel, R.M. Renfield was an inmate at a lunatic asylum who was thought to be suffering from delusions but actually is a servant of Dracula. Plot details weren’t announced, but it’s believed to take place during the present day and is not a period piece.

While Universal is developing a handful of high-profile monster pics including Wolfman starring Ryan Gosling and a Van Helsing pic with James Wan producing, Deadline reports the studio has been high on this project since getting the first draft. While the character isn’t the flashiest among its other monster IPs, insiders say the story’s mix of humor and action was something the studios was looking to have more of because so many of the other properties have a more horror element to them like Universal’s box-office hit The Invisible Man.

Dexter Fletcher was originally in talks to take this directing job, but ultimately moved on to Paramount’s The Saint reboot. After meeting with a number of directors, McKay’s ultimate pitch as his ability to balance comedy and action made him the pick for the job.

This sounds like it could be an interesting take on a new era of monster movies. Are you intrigued by what we know so far?