Let’s face it, the writing has been on the wall for Universal‘s Dark Universe franchise for a while now. Following the critical mauling and commercial flop of this summer’s “The Mummy,” the studio has been pretty quiet about their future plans. Ideas have floated around — Channing Tatum starring in “Van Helsing,” Gal Gadot leading “The Bride Of Frankenstein“ — but nothing has stuck. In fact, the latter picture, which was supposed to start filming in early 2018 for a 2019 release, was put on hold. Now, it looks like the whole damn cinematic universe might be falling apart.
THR reports that Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, the key creative architects of Dark Universe (heck, Kurtzman even directed “The Mummy”) have exited the franchise. Both are busy with more interesting, more lucrative ventures, with Kurtzman working on “Star Trek: Discovery” and Morgan building the forever expanding “Fast & Furious” franchise (which will keep him under Universal’s roof). However, the studio is trying to keep their tentpole ambitions on life support.
“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.”
To that end, Universal is mulling a couple of options, including trying to find a new creative to reshape the cinematic universe, or ditch that idea altogether and just make a bunch of one-off movies, with the emphasis on “filmmaker-driven.” In fact, Jason Blum‘s name (the dude responsible for economically lean, megahits like “Get Out” and “The Purge“) as someone who might get involved.
If you’re wondering why Universal is so bent on making this work, and getting characters like the Invisible Man, Wolf Man and Frankenstein on the big screen, there’s one reason — intellectual property. We’re in the era of branded moviemaking, and these names are just too big to remain sitting in a vault.
So, Dark Universe may be dead for now, but don’t be surprised if it shakes off the cobwebs and returns in the future.
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