Universal had big plans for their monster cinematic universe, which was going to feature Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Russell Crowe and Javier Bardem in a shared “Dark Universe.”
Key word here is “had.”
THR reports Universal’s planned monster verse looks to be dead on arrival as writer-producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, who were hired as the Dark Universe architects, have departed the franchise.
The Dark Universe was going to be a shared universe based on and featuring the Universal Monsters such as The Mummy, Invisible Man, Wolf Man, Dracula, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, but the report states none of the projects are moving forward, and it even states the Universal lot that was revamped at a great expense for the Dark Universe now sits mostly empty.
Both Kurtzman and Morgan have moved on to other projects, with Kurtzman involved with CBS, Star Trek: Discovery and other television projects; Chris Morgan is penning the Dwayne Johnson Fast and Furious spinoff.
Tom Cruise’s The Mummy was supposed to kick things off, but its debut was disappointing and failed at the box office with a $409 million gross and only $80 million of that coming from U.S. audiences. The Mummy sits at 16% on Rotten Tomatoes as well.
Angelina Jolie was attached to play the Bride of Frankenstein, but the report mentions she is no longer a part of the project.
Apparently, there is still hope the Universal monster verse will be revived as it’s possible someone could come along and be the new architect. Another possibility mentioned is that high profile directors and writers could do one-off monster films having nothing to do with a shared universe.
“We’ve learned many lessons throughout the creative process on Dark Universe so far, and we are viewing these titles as filmmaker-driven vehicles, each with their own distinct vision, “Universal president of production Peter Cramer said. “We are not rushing to meet a release date and will move forward with these films when we feel they are the best versions of themselves.”
