The massive box office success of the recent Scream movies led to an I Know What You Did Last Summer legacy sequel (check out the first trailer here), and we now have word that another '90s slasher movie is set for the revival treatment, with Screen Gems in the process of developing a new Urban Legends movie.
THR reports that writer/actress Shanrah Wakefield (Wrong Swipe) has been hired to pen the script, with Gary Dauberman, whose video game adaptation Until Dawn opens this weekend, on board as a producer via his Coin Operated banner. Neal Moritz, who was one of the producers of the original, is also in negotiations to produce.
Directed by Jamie Blanks and written by Sylvio Horta, the original '90s slasher was set in a New England university and focused on a killer whose murders were inspired by popular urban legends. Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Tara Reid, and Michael Rosenbaum played the leads, and the movie also featured appearances from the likes of Robert Englund, Loretta Devine, John Neville, Natasha Gregson Wagner, and Brad Dourif.
The movie was a box office success ($72.5 million worldwide on a budget of $14 million), but received negative reviews from critics (30% on Rotten Tomatoes).
A pair of sequels, 2000's Urban Legends: Final Cut and the direct-to-video film Urban Legends: Bloody Mary in 2005, followed, and a reboot was actually announced to be in development back in 2020. This version was shelved during the COVID-19 pandemic, however.
Plot details for this new take on Urban Legend are still under wraps (something tells us the story won't stray too far from the basic premise), but THR's sources say the movie will serve as an "examination of what an urban legend looks like in a post-digital world."
Check out the trailer and synopsis for the original Urban Legend below, and let us know if you have any interest in a new movie in the comments section.
"A university is beset by a rash of gruesome murders that resemble old urban legends. When her friend Michelle is killed by someone hiding in her car, Natalie begins to notice the pattern. Her suspicions grow stronger when her own roommate is strangled to death. Soon the quiet college campus is transformed into hunting grounds for a maniac, and Natalie struggles to find the killer and stop the bloodshed before she becomes the next victim."