Sony’s horror label Screen Gems is heading back to campus—this time with a digital-age twist. A reboot of 1998’s Urban Legend is officially in development, with It and Annabelle writer Gary Dauberman set to produce the modern slasher through his Coin Operated banner.
As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Shanrah Wakefield (Killer in Red) is on board to write the script, with original producer Neal Moritz reportedly in talks to return.
Plot details remain under wraps, although word is the new film will explore how urban legends evolve in a post-digital, social media-driven world. That premise opens the door to a range of contemporary folklore, from creepypasta-style tales to viral TikTok horrors.
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The first ‘Urban Legend’
The original Urban Legend, directed by Aussie filmmaker Jamie Blanks (Valentine) and penned by Silvio Horta (Ugly Betty), followed a masked killer taking out students at a New England university—each death modelled on a well-known myth, like Pop Rocks and Coke or the “killer in the backseat.” The cast included a lineup of then-rising stars: Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Joshua Jackson, Tara Reid, Rebecca Gayheart, and Michael Rosenbaum.
Blanks had an interesting path to directing Urban Legend. He first circled Scream (then titled Scary Movie), but lost the director’s chair to Wes Craven. He was then sent the script for I Know What You Did Last Summer, and decided to prove his chops by crafting a mock trailer for it using just $3,000 and a few friends. While he didn’t land that job, the trailer impressed producers enough to offer him Urban Legend a few months later.
Released in the wake of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, the film didn’t fare well with critics — it holds a 30% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with audiences not far behind at 37%. Still, it proved a box office success, earning over $US72 million on a $US14 million budget. Two sequels followed: Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000) and Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005).
Another Stab
This isn’t the first attempt at an Urban Legend reboot. A new version was previously announced in 2020, with Colin Minihan (Grave Encounters) on board to direct. Those plans quietly fell apart during the pandemic. Interestingly, Minihan’s IMDb profile still has him attached as writer and director on an Urban Legend project that’s in pre-production, but with no mention of Minihan in THR‘s report and Wakefield named as the new screenwriter, this credit is likely a remnant of what once was.
Now, with Dauberman—writer of The Nun, executive producer on both Nun films, writer of Annabelle Comes Home, and co-writer/producer of the newly released Until Dawn adaptation—on board, this one feels far more likely to gain traction. And with the Scream franchise carving through a new wave and a fresh I Know What You Did Last Summer entry on the horizon, Urban Legend could be perfectly poised for a modern slasher revival. Stay tuned.
