Frankenstein

Frankenstein would be a 2024 gothic musical film based on characters from the novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. The film, produced by Universal Pictures, Mandeville Films, and Tim Burton Productions. The film would be directed by Guillermo del Toro, who would also write the screenplay alongside David Henry Hwang, Peter Parnell, and Linda Woolverton, from an story by del Toro and Hwang. Del Toro would also serve as co-producer alongisde David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Tim Burton. The film would star Michael Arden, Michael Fassbender, Nasim Pedrad, and Chloe Bennet. The film's score would be composed by Danny Elfman, while the songs would be written by Elfman and Stephen Schwartz.

The film would first be announced in January 2021, with del Toro being attached as producer and director. Principal photography would take place between June and November 2024. Unlike most Frankenstein film adaptations, the filmmakers wouldn't develop the film as part of the "horror film" genre, instead being developed with a reflective and thougth-provoking narrative, with the Creature serving as the film's protagonist instead of the titular doctor.

Frankenstein would be released on July 30, 2024, to critical acclaim, with critics praising its direction, tone, musical numbers, screenplay, score, performances (paritcularly Arden, Fassbender, and Pedrad's) and visual effects. The film would also be a commercial success, earning 1.8 million dollars over a budget of 150 millions. The film would earn Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score, as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Synopsis
Hoping to become a worldwide renowed scientist, Dr. Victor Frankenstein tries to find a way to ressurrect the dead. However, he is horrified by the ugly creature he ends up creating, which he deems as a "monster", which he attempts to destroy. In order to save itself, the creature runs away, with Dr. Frankenstein vowing to destroy it before it kills somebody. Alone in a world that hates him for his appearance, the creature meets a group of outcasts, who embrace him, being aware of how it feels to be pushed away due to being different. Naming itself "Frankenstein", the creature must protect his new friends when Dr. Frankenstein's revenge comes to them, eventually makng him realize where's the one true monster.

Cast

 * Michael Arden as Frankenstein: A creature who meets a band of outcasts after escaping from its creator. Director Guillermo del Toro would say that "if Dr. Frankenstein is the modern Prometheus, his monster is the modern Quasimodo", and said that the focus on the character "brings up a toally fresh take on an old tale". Arden would choose to play the character due to "the complexity and timeliness of the film". The film's potrayal of Frankenstein would draw inspirations from the Hulk, which was itself inspired by Frankenstein, as del Toro would see both as "lonely souls with serious anger issues that, on the inside, only want people to love them". The character's design would be a combination of both the classic Frankenstein appearance from 1931 film and Mary Shelbey's description of the creature from the original novel. Additionally, unlike most depictions, Frankestein would be potrayed as possesing average intelligence, similarly to the original novel.
 * Michael Fassbender as Dr. Victor Frankenstein: A mad scientist and Frankenstein's creator who, horrified by the ugliness of his creation, believes him to be a monster and goes on a quest to destoy him at all costs. Fasssbender would compare his character to Magneto, whom he also played, as "they both do terrible things for what they believe its the right reason", througth he would say that "Victor isn't as right as he believes". Co-writer Peter Parnell would say that, while the Creature would be the main protagonist, the film would also "take some time to explore Victor's more human side" in order to "really show the film's message and main theme"
 * Nasim Pedrad as Dolce: A nice outcast and Rabbia's girlfriend, who becomes the first person to accept Frankenstein, soon taking him to her people's hiding. Pedrad would say that "while the character comes off as naive at the start, you slowly came to see that she's far from that, but also that she wants what's best for everyone", and that "she sees the world more as place that has to be fixed than as a place that's broken".
 * Chloe Bennet as Rabbia: An outcast and Dolce's girlfriend, who sees Frankenstein's entrance as the best chance to make the ones who wronged them pay for their actions. Bennet would say that her character "is less hateful and more determined to correct what's wrong with the world", and that "while she may make some villanous actions, she's by no means a bad girl", calling her character "reactive" an "desesperate".

Music
Danny Elfman, a recurring collaborator of producer Tim Burton's, would compose the film's score. Elfman would say that his score would be "one of [his] most gothic works ever", having drawn inspiration from his scores for Burton-directed films due to those films' gothic tones. He also said that he would want to create a score that reflected "the film's moral complexity and timely themes". He would create a "very self-reflecting, yet also childlike" theme for Frankenstein to reflect his character arc and limited time of existence, while he would describe Dr. Frankenstein's theme as "hateful and prejuding in all ways, but with a deep softess" to reflect the character's "deep, deep humanity".

Elfman and Stephen Schwartz would write the film's songs. Director Guillermo del Toro would say that the film's musical approach would be inspired by the 2014 stage play, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which would describe as "proof that even the most gothic story can be supported by musical numbers", which would convice him to hire Schwartz as songwriter, having worked on the play as lyricist. Celine Dion would perform a end-credits song for the film, titled "That Day" which Schwartz would describe as "an spiritual successor" to the song "Someday" from Disney's film adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, througth he would say that "That Day" would be "a little more direct" than "Someday".

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film would have an approval rating of 98% based on 298 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The film's critical consensus would read: "A complex story in the best ways possible supported by great musical numbers and wonderful cast performances, Frankenstein gives an updated perspective on its classical source material, delivering one of the most interesting and thougth-provoking monster movies from Universal ever since their heydays".

Trivia

 * The film would mark the second time Stephen Schwartz and Hans Zimmer worked together, after DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt (2002).
 * The film would be Guillermo del Toro's first musical film.
 * The film would mark the second time Stephen Schwartz and Peter Parnell work together, after Disney's stage adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
 * While the film would be an adaptation of Frankestein, del Toro would claim that "[the filmmakers] drew a little from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame too", with Parnell explaining that the writers' intend was to combin both Hunchback and the novel.