2025 was set to have a very exciting and interesting horror showdown, with one of the contenders beingThe Bride!, starring Christian Bale, but this is already over before it could even start.2025 has an interesting list of horror moviescoming up, and one of them wasThe Bride!, written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Although there’s currently a strong trend in the horror genre of remakes and reimaginings of horror classics, such asThe Invisible ManandWolf Man,The Bride!is only inspired by James Whale’s 1935 classicBride of Frankenstein.
What is known aboutThe Bride!is that it takes the audience back to 1930s Chicago. There they will meet Frankenstein’s creature (Bale), who asks Dr. Euphronius to help him create a companion for him. Together, they bring to life a murdered woman who becomes the Bride (Jessie Buckley). Romance sparks between the creature and the Bride, but they also get the police’s attention and find themselves involved in other social issues.The Bride!was going to have a strong and similar competitor in 2025, but this is no longer happening due to its release date change.
2025’s Frankenstein Vs. The Bride Horror Movie Battle Is No Longer Happening
The Bride! Has Been Pushed To 2026
The Bride!was set to compete against Guillermo del Toro’sFrankenstein, not just because of their close release dates, but because of their source material: Mary Shelley’sFrankenstein. Del Toro’s project is based on Shelley’s novel rather than on a movie, and it’s a project he finally picked up again after leaving it aside for years. Filming ofFrankensteinstarted in February 2024 and ended in September, and though it still doesn’t have an exact release date, it’s projected for a November 2025 release.
Some reports say The Bride! might be too arthouse and not very rooted in horror to draw an audience.
The Bride!was set for an June 10, 2025 release (and later September 26), which would have given us an interestingFrankensteinmovie battle, but that’s no longer happening. In early March 2025,the first reactions forThe Bride!were revealed, and they weren’t positive. The head of one production company said that to give Maggie Gyllenhaal anything more than $15 million to make the movie was “irresponsible”, with other reports saying the movie might be too arthouse and not very rooted in horror to draw an audience (at least not an audience that can make the movie profitable).
Now, just a couple of days after those first reactions were made public, Warner Bros. has revealeda release date change forThe Bride!(and other movies).The Bride!will now be released on July 23, 2025, ending the 2025Frankensteinbattle before it could even start (none of them have teasers or trailers yet, so the battle truly never properly began).Frankenstein, on the other hand, is still projected to be released in 2025.
Avoiding Comparisons To Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Might Help The Bride
They’re Similar, But Still Different
Although the first reactions and the release date change aren’t good signs forThe Bride!, the latter might eventually prove helpful. It’s unclear ifThe Bride!will undergo changes of any kind to improve its critical reception once it comes out, but it will benefit from not being immediately compared toGuillermo del Toro’sFrankenstein.Despite both having the same source,The Bride!andFrankensteinare different projects– the first takes inspiration from a classic horror movie, which is inspired by one part of the novel, while the latter is an adaptation of the entire novel.
The Bride!will be inevitably compared in certain aspects toFrankenstein, but releasing months later will give each movie the space it deserves.
Gyllenhaal and Del Toro’s approach is also different, with Gyllenhaal, based on early reactions, not exactly being loyal to the story’s horror roots and going more on an experimental route. Del Toro, on the other hand, has spoken for years about his desire to make a faithfulFrankensteinmovie adaptation, though it’s to be seen exactly how faithful it is. Surely,The Bride!will be inevitably compared in certain aspects toFrankenstein, but releasing months later will give each movie the space it deserves.
