10 Movies Nobody Wanted But Ended Up Loving

As neat as the inherent concept of The Invisible Man is, it was tough to have much faith in Universal doing anything interesting with it so soon after their much-hyped Dark Universe imploded following the failure of Tom Cruise's The Mummy.

Even with the talented Leigh Whannell (Saw, Upgrade) appointed to helm a low-budget take on the IP, with the supremely talented Elisabeth Moss starring no less, it was easy to believe it would be meddled into schlocky oblivion by Universal executives.

And yet despite reviews being embargoed until mere days before release, The Invisible Man opened to a strong critical reception, the film being rightly praised for its taut, suspenseful direction on a low budget, timely feminist leanings, and Moss' outstanding performance.

Though its theatrical release was curtailed by the pandemic, the film was nevertheless a massive financial success, grossing more than 20x its budget worldwide and prompting Universal to greenlight a sequel with Whannell and Moss expected to return.

For a film that had all the makings of a mess in the fallout of the Dark Universe, it's practically a miracle that Universal let Whannell do his thing without intrusion.