Both musicals and horror are tried and true genres in the film world. The best horror movies are known for their massive box office appeal, while a number of movie musicals have won Best Picture over the years. There was some chatter online that Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! might be a combination of both, and now the director/writer/actress has addressed that discourse straight on. And she's ready to put the matter to bed once and for all.
What we know about The Bride! has been limited, which is why there's so many theories and rumors online. Maggie Gyllenhaal has been open about the creative process behind the project, and in an interview with EW she addressed the claim that the forthcoming project is a musical. In her words:
Can we just put to bed the thing about it being a musical? It is not a musical at all. That's a different form. I don't know why that keeps coming up.
Well, that was pretty cut and dry. The Bride! is in fact, not a musical. Although if it was I would have been even more invested in the mysterious project. After all, a song and dance project about the The Bride of Frankenstein seems like an offbeat musical I'd totally be into. Alas, that's not the case.
Anticipation for The Bride! has been steadily building, musical or not. Jake Gyllenhaal praised his sister's vision for the gothic romance film, which definitely looks like it has a unique ton and visual language. As a reminder, you can watch the movie's official trailer below:
How cool is that? While there are likely going to be plenty of surprises once The Bride! hits theaters in early March. The timing for this project's release is noteworthy, as it comes just a few months after Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein arrived for those with a Netflix subscription. That title ended up getting some Oscar nominations, and it should be interesting to see just how well Maggie Gyllenhaal's movie ends up performing.
The synopsis for The Bride! is intriguing, and seemingly teases the very new spin that Gyllenhaal will bring to the book to screen adaptation. It reads:
In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman as the Bride, sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change.
This certainly doesn't sound like the classic tale of The Bride of Frankenstein, and I can't wait to see how things shake out. Luckily we don't have to wait much longer before seeing this new take on the Mary Shelley story.
The Bride! will arrive in theaters March 6th as part of the 2026 movie release list. But one thing is clear about the mysterious project: it's not going to be a musical.
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