Universal Eying Angelina Jolie For 'The Bride Of Frankenstein' And 'Wanted 2'

By the Sea is bombing at the box-office. Angelina Jolie's third directorial effort wasn't as expensive to make as Unbroken, but it's still a considerable loss of around $40 million for Universal. After its financial failure, it sounds like the studio wants to bring the actress and director back to more audience-friendly fare.

Read more about Universal's hope for Angelina Jolie For The Bride of Frankenstein and Wanted 2 after the jump.

By the Sea isn't going to hurt Jolie's career much, if at all. She's still a huge name. By the Sea may have starred her and Brad Pitt (Killing Them Softly), but it's a little ridiculous to think those two names alone would make the director's patient, often unrelenting movie about a marriage falling apart accessible to general audiences. As famous as Jolie is, the film itself wasn't an easy sell, and the actress/director/writer and her team cut together some moody trailers that, for some, probably felt distancing.

Following the box-office performance of By the Sea, The Hollywood Reporter has published an article, asking, "Will 'By the Sea' Kill 'Favor Movies'"? In the piece, a producer goes as far to say, "The need to do favors doesn't make sense anymore." The article cites the recent failures of other costly personal projects — gambles meant to tighten the bond between an actor and a studio. The funny thing is, most of the movies the article mentions aren't particularly good. Doesn't anyone think that maybe the quality of the films had something to do with their box-office performances? It's not exactly fair to say because some actor or director had their druthers that's the reason their projects failed.

Briefly, it's mentioned Universal is hoping Jolie signs up for The Bride of Frankenstein and Wanted 2. The former is a part of the studio's plan to bring their classic monsters back to life as action heroes. There's no mention if they're courting Jolie to direct, but as someone who's solely directed personal projects, it's hard to imagine her interested in making a tentpole movie.

There's also the matter of Wanted 2, a project that's been in-development for a while now. Jolie's character died at the end of the 2008 film, and ever since it came out, Universal has been searching for a way to resurrect the character. By this point, I'm just curious if anyone wants to see a Wanted 2. It's been over seven years since the first movie. The very loose adaptation of Mark Millar's graphic novel was a success, both at the box-office and with audiences, but is anyone dying to see this sequel? If Universal moves forward with Wanted 2, they're not exactly striking while the iron is hot.