R.I.P. Dark Universe: Universal/Blumhouse Announce An ‘Invisible Man’ Movie That Won’t Star Johnny Depp

Farewell, Dark Universe. Gone before your time, but a welcome departure, nonetheless!

It would appear that it took only one terrible box office bomb to sink Universal’s grand plan of uniting all of its classic Monsters into one unified universe. And now, in the wake of “The Mummy” stinking up the place, the studio has decided to enlist Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions to breathe life into the Universal Monsters series with a new take on “The Invisible Man.”

READ MORE: Blumhouse’s Jason Blum “Would Be All In” If Asked To Tackle The Dark Universe Films

According to Variety, Blum has signed on to produce a new version of the classic franchise. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, as the producer has never shied away from talking about his love of the Universal Monsters films. And his first order of business was to bring on “Upgrade” writer-director Leigh Whannell to spearhead the reimagining. While we don’t know a single thing about what this new version of the classic character might look like (and no that’s not an invisible pun either), we do know that Johnny Depp won’t be involved.

As you might remember, when the Dark Universe was formally announced, including a Senior Picture-style photo of the various A-list actors signed on for six films that would never get off the ground, Depp was confirmed as the actor that would bring ‘Invisible Man’ to life. Alas, it would appear that the actor is nowhere to be found in Blumhouse’s take on the character.

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Peter Cramer, Universal’s president of production, said, “Throughout cinematic history, Universal’s classic monsters have been reinvented through the prism of each new filmmaker who brought these characters to life. We are excited to take a more individualized approach for their return to screen, shepherded by creators who have stories they are passionate to tell with them.”

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Whether Depp was left out due to his off-screen controversy, his on-screen blunders, or some other reason, remains a mystery. But what we do know is that Blumhouse, who had incredible success breathing life in the “Halloween” franchise in 2018, is looking to repeat that success with the Universal Monsters. And who knows? If Jason Blum can figure it out with Leigh Whannell, maybe we’ll get a Blumhouse Universal Monsters shared universe?