In January 1925, Weber returned once again to Universal, hired by Carl Laemmle to take charge of all story development for a $5 million production initiative based around the adaptation of popular novels. Universal released one major big-budget film each year, including "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" (1923) and "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925), both starring Lon Chaney, Sr. After two unsuccessful previews, in 1925 Weber and Maurice Pivar were assigned to re-edit "The Phantom of the Opera" before its ultimate release in September 1925. Another novel which Universal decided to film was "Uncle Tom's Cabin", for which Weber completed an adaptation for a film to be directed in 1926 by Harry A. Pollard, who had starred as Uncle Tom in a 1913 version and was, by 1923, Universal's leading director, with nine consecutive hits.