This week, Universal puts it all the line with “The Mummy.” The Tom Cruise-starring monster movie will either kick off the studio’s ambitious Dark Universe franchise or if it underperforms, cause them to seriously rethink their plans to exhume their classic catalog characters in a string of new blockbusters. But you don’t get anywhere in Hollywood without thinking big, and producer Alex Kurtzman wants some more big stars to join the already signed up Cruise, Russell Crowe (Dr. Jekyll), Javier Bardem (Frankenstein), and Johnny Depp (The Invisible Man).
“I’d love to bring Michael Fassbender in, I’d love to bring Jennifer Lawrence in, I’d love to see Charlize Theron in there, Angelina Jolie…,” he told Fandom.
Again, you might as well reach for the sky. Jolie has already been tossed around as wishlist name for “The Bride Of Frankenstein,” while Dwayne Johnson has also been mentioned as a fingers-crossed hopeful for “The Wolfman.” But naturally, there are more movie monster pictures brewing.
“We know we’re going to do ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Bride of Frankenstein,’ ‘Dracula,’ ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ ‘Invisible Man,’ ” he added.
Well, we’ll see if they can get far. It’s all going to be on the shoulders of this weekend’s “The Mummy,” which needs to open to $40 million domestic, and rake it in overseas, to be considered a success. On Universal’s side, is the fact that while Cruise isn’t such a hot ticket stateside anymore outside of “Mission: Impossible,” internationally he’s still a big star in almost every project he does. We’ll know this weekend if Dark Universe has a big bang, or gets swallowed up in a black hole.