Universal Pulls the Plug on the Dark Universe Films

[emazers]

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/259376/universal-plugs-plug-dark-universe/

[Big Bad Wolf]

I was going to make a thread on this, but I see I've been beaten to it. I guess no matter how fast I type, I'll always lose the race when someone can just post a link.

I'll just paste what I was GOING to say in here, because I don't feel much like deleting it.

Welp, it seems like the Dark Universe - at least in the form that was planned - is dead. The top two members of the team driving this project, Alex Kurtzman (who directed The Mummy and Chris Morgan, have departed. The huge office that Universal built specifically to develop the Dark Universe is now totally empty. Universal is now allegedly back to the drawing board, considering their options for the classic monsters now that the Dark Universe is such a bust.

Their remake/sequel/thing of Bride of Frankenstein is apparently still in the cards with Bill Condon attached to direct, however it's been shelved so they can work on the script. If it does happen, I won't be surprised if all references to the Dark Universe are removed so it can stand by itself as its own thing.

They're considering their options. For instance, offering classic monster films to high profile filmmakers or producers without any expectation that they need to build a shared universe at all. Jason Blum of Blumhouse Pictures has been mentioned, and it's no surprise given the massive success of Get Out. However they are also apparently still open to doing some version of the "shared monster universe" concept if they can find a new architect to give the project a complete overhaul.

So for now, while they still surely want to do SOMETHING with this franchise, they're back to the drawing board.

Again.

Which wouldn't have happened had they just done what they should have done in the first place. If they hadn't destroyed The Wolfman with their poor decisions, things could have gone very differently. In fact, all the pieces were there for them to pull this off. When Legendary Pictures parted ways with Warner Bros, who did they turn to? Universal. Who has a working relationship with both Universal and Legendary Pictures? Guillermo Del Toro, who is a known MEGA FAN of the classic monsters, whose Creature from the Black Lagoon remake was passed on and who has now made a new film, The Shape of Water, that is not only inspired by CFTBL but is also a serious Oscar contender.

With Guillermo Del Toro as the chief architect of this project, it would have been amazing. What's that, Universal? Scared of the budgets these films would require? Why, Legendary Pictures can easily help foot the bill! That's why you partnered with them in the first place!

But they didn't do that. The smartest thing they could have done, and...they didn't do it. And now we're here.

[Kidagain]

They need a group like us to take over that space and set the wheels in motion to come up with bringing the true Universal Monsters back from the grave to wreck havoc on the population again.I'm sure we can do way better than the people that are in charge there now.

[YoungestMonsterKid]

Hmmph.
Guess this'll just be a mystery for a while on if it's totally scrapped or what.
I for one, am fine with it ending now. Better they only make one bad movie than a series of interconnected bad movies. But of course, the later movies could have been good too.
I guess I've been just so worried about them screwing it up is all.

[Count_Zirock]

Best news I've seen in awhile. Johnny Depp slurring his way through "The Invisible Man" would have been a gross insult to both James Whale and Claude Rains.

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Tapatalk

[FrankFan95]

Not shocked just such a waste of time and money with the new Mummy flick.

[Gillfan]

My takeaway from the article is that I really want to see pix of the offices they decorated with monster stuff.

[Universal Steve]

Good riddance! They didn't know what they were doing and were ruining the memory of the classic monsters!

[StyreneDude]

There was one huge flaw in the entire idea to begin with. Universal has been credited with creating the first "shared universe" in movies with their monster rally films of the 1940's. The problem with that is, it was purely accidental. Those films weren't part of some grand vision, nor were they a culmination reached after establishing ideas from previous films...they were nothing more than a last ditch attempt at squeezing a few more bucks out of individual monsters who had reached a dead end by that point. The studio didn't know what to do with Dracula, Frankenstein, or the Wolf Man anymore, so they decided to team them up. Simple as that. And though they do have some entertainment value, with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man being the best, they are the weakest films in the series. It's no wonder that after two such rallies, the monsters were DOA, and their last hurrah was as the butt of jokes in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Don't get me wrong...I love those films, but let's be honest...they're B films at best, not on the same level as the masterpieces of the 1930's.

Universal doesn't remember it's own history with these characters. They act like they were a chef carefully adding ingredients one at a time to produce something great. In reality, it was hey, let's chuck all these leftovers in a blender...somebody will eat it.

[Wolfman]

Best news yet! Hey Universal, how about coming up with some NEW monsters? Oh, wait a second, that would require a thought process. Silly me. You want to do something with the classic monsters, how about making that lunchbox you ditched. Give us some new quality products to buy. I'm perfectly content watching the original classics over and over and over again.

JP

[Crossbonez74]

[Gory Glenn]

I think that "The Wolfman 2010" and "Dracula Untold" were both better Universal Monster movies than the new Mummy.

[Anton Phibes]

I think that "The Wolfman 2010" and "Dracula Untold" were both better Universal Monster movies than the new Mummy.

YUP. YUP. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.

[sfs99a]

The reboot film was written by Jeff Rovin, the return of the wolfman, published in 1998, was a perfect adaption choice to reintroduce these chracters. Bring in someone like Landis or Deltoro to oversee it, you  can't go wrong, write good strong character driven stories, the rest will take care of itself.

[Big Bad Wolf]

The thing is, all that nonsense about how the classic monsters just can't work today, blah blah blah, I don't buy it. I don't buy it for one second. I know for a fact that it's perfectly within the realm of possibility to make films that are faithful and respectful to these characters that would resonate with modern audiences.

Know why I know that? Because it happened before. Y'know, when Hammer showed up and blew those doors wide open again. And of course people like to pretend that the Hammer era came before the rise of sophisticated, more realistic, more psychologically complex horror and thriller films, but the truth is that's a load of crap too. Psycho came out in 1960 for goodness sake. Did that stop the Hammer train from rolling along? Hell no. The Hammer films came out alongside these more hard-edged, more realistic horror films.

Yes, they died out eventually while other films became more realistic, or more cruel, or both, but I refuse to believe that's a slight on the material. I've read Dracula and Frankenstein and I'm sure many of you have as well. Those of us who know those tales know that their contents can stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Rosemary's Baby or The Exorcist or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in terms of brutality and terror. That this hasn't always been reflected in adaptations over the years does not reflect poorly on the source material.

In an era where a slow burn, subtle, period piece horror film like The Witch can actually be made, and made well, and recognized for its greatness, there's no excuse. None. The narrative that the classic monsters cannot function on film in the modern era in such a way that respects their sources is absolute nonsense, and I strongly reject it.