Over the past few days, I’ve been reading up on reports from various sources saying that Universal Studios’ Dark Universe property is in danger of collapsing. What is the Dark Universe? It’s supposed to be Universal’s cinematic universe that was to bring back all of Universal’s classic monsters into the modern era. It’s an interesting concept, but there’s a huge problem: It stumbled. Let me explain. About a year and a half back, it was announced that a new Mummy movie was in the works starring Tom Cruise. Okay, that’s….interesting. But it was also announced that The Mummy would be part of a larger universe called the Dark Universe. Right then and there, I knew this was going to be trouble. For one: You don’t announce a cinematic universe until you are absolutely certain that the first film in the franchise is a success. That was Marvel’s approach with Iron Man and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By announcing a universe before the first film is even released undermines any expectations that the audiences may have regarding the direction of these movies. That was the first nail in the proverbial coffin. The second nail was the first movie in the Dark Universe: The Mummy. This was not the movie they should have started with. The addition of Tom Cruise to the film was the least of its problems. This movie was created with the direct intent of kick-starting the Dark Universe. It featured some interesting “cameos” from all the other monster movies including Creature from the Black Lagoon. The addition of Jekyll and Hyde also worked against the film. There’s also the fact that the film brought nothing new to the genre and was overly serious. I didn’t hate the film. I think it got some things right, especially with the villain, but there was nothing here that hasn’t been done before and done better.
The next film in the franchise would have been Bride of Frankenstein, but that seems to have stalled as Angelina Jolie opted to go for a second Maleficent film instead. That’s another road bump. Most recently, we’ve learned that the two top producers of the Dark Universe have jumped ship: Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan. The offices that were set up specifically for this particular franchise are empty, by all accounts. Things are not looking good for the Dark Universe. This whole thing was sabotaged from the beginning with really stupid decision-making. Again, it’s not a terrible concept by bringing the old monsters into the modern film era, but it has to be done in such a way that respects the source material. So far, that hasn’t happened. The Invisible Man is supposed to be the next film to be released next year. Is there a possibility for the Dark Universe to be salvaged at this point? It’s possible, but The Invisible Man would have to be absolutely amazing in order for that to happen. Another possibility is to release smaller movies under the same logo but not connected to each other. That was The Mummy’s biggest failing: Wanting to bring all the other monsters into the same universe. However, and this is speculation on my part, if The Invisible Man flops at the box-office, the Dark Universe will die with it. I don’t want to see the Dark Universe fail, but the decisions that were made early on, kind of made it nearly a foregone conclusion. Can they turn it around? I hope so.