The Original Plans for Universal’s Dark Universe

Around 2016-2017, I was an Uber driver in La, when I picked up this frazzled client who was on a conference call, explaining how “the film isn’t working”, something about how the director was green, and how “he (or) Tom is running the show now”, causing lots of turmoil on set, especially with the director. Years later, I think back and I can’t help but wonder if they were discussing the doomed production of The Mummy.

The biggest mistake was the tone. These are monsters, not superheroes. A modern reinterpretation of the classic films from the '30s and '40s with the exact tone and atmosphere that those films had has so much potential for something fresh.

The real problem the the mummy 2017 failed was that they gave Tom cruise too much control

The Dark Universe was always a heartbreaker for me, both for the Pseudo-Superhero direction they took and because it all fell apart so quickly. I often daydream about what might have been. If I had my way, these movies would be dark, gothic and moody. Not gore or jumpscares, but a slowly building dread. The throughline would be Van Helsing researching the cause of all these monster manifesting all of a sudden (Chaos, for lack of a better name). The finale would haven been Monster Squad for adults, with all the monsters returning and Chaos manifesting in the flesh. Van Helsing would have to gather the protagonists of the other films to deal with this final threat. Cheesy idea, I know, but it appeals to me.

This just reinforces what I have always believed: 1.) The MCU is both one of the BEST and WORST things to happen to cinema, creatively. 2.) A-listers have too much creative control sometimes, and writers, directors, and producers should be able to do what they are paid to do and have been brought on for: to make a successful film. 3.) Studios are out of touch, and more creative minds need to be a part of the producing/studio process, like how James Gunn (a creative) is co-CEO with Peter Safran (an experienced producer) for balance or even John Lasseter (who was an actual animator) back in the day, heading Pixar.

Apparently, an earlier script for The Mummy was really good, where the protagonist was a Navy Seal with a black ops team and the Mummy was buried in Iraq instead of Egypt

I really liked Dracula untold. Luke evans and Charles Dance was so good in that!

The Last Voyage of Demeter is the Dracula I want for a Dark Universe. I want horror. Not romance. Not heroics. Not comedy. I want to watch monsters.

They should have given blumhouse the reigns for the entire 'dark universe', I'd love to see their take on the classic monsters.

I remember, and to my surprise, really wanting to see Johnny Depp’s version of The Invisible Man. That was the only casting choice that intrigued me the most for some reason.

Personally, I would have preferred a number of Stand-alone Films that present, at most, hints that they are set in a shared Universe. Perhaps a post-credits-scene here and there. If audiences had reacted positively to that, they could have went ahead with their Dark Universe plan eventually. Because, in all fairness, it is a cool idea. Ah, and I think there should have been a film centered around Crowes' Jeckyll/Hyde because, without a doubt, he was the best thing about the 2017-Mummy and I would have loved to see more of him.

Marvel built their connected universe from the ground up, with a solid foundation. These other guys just tried to create the whole thing at once with nothing holding it together. I actually liked The Mummy, and I appreciated the fact that nothing in it contradicts the Brendan Frasier movies. In fact, there's an Easter egg suggesting that Cruise's film takes place in the same universe

The main problem with The Mummy, though there's many problems with it, was too much setting up the future where the story was put on hold to show easter eggs like Creature From The Black Lagoon's hand in a jar and the scene where Russell Crowe turns into Mr. Hyde

Man i really liked dracula untold and im pretty annoyed they didnt do a sequel. It wouldnt even had to be dark universe sequel, just a luke evans dracula movie 😕

If it was me running this universe, I'd just re-tell the stories with today's actors (I love Angelina Jolie as Bride of Frankenstein, by the way) and updated CGI. I'd even go as far as to make standalone movies first like they did in the '30s and '40s and then do the first crossover of Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman. I would also focus on the psychological aspect of the movies which is what these movies are known for and not try to make them into damn superhero movies. I love Marvel and DC movies, but these classic monsters need to be something different.

The Wolfman (2010) was the BEST of these films. I liked how they recaptured the tone. You have to go back to that Victorian age.

Sofia Boutella is my favorite mummy. She was perfectly cast. But the entire Dark Universe was undone by Tom Cruise 's ego.

Dracula Untold is underrated. I wish we could get a sequel.

"Dark Universe" was one of those franchises where as soon as I heard the concept and saw the publicity photo I though, "this gonna flop". Who the heck wanted to see a superhero horror monster franchise, and what possible direction could it have taken? Weird how studios that want to replicate the MCU missed the part where most of the main actors were either relative unknowns or hadn't been big names in a long time, as well.

The Development Post-Mummy 2017 related to Universal Monsters has been so interesting: 1. Guillermo del Toro released The Shape of Water later that same year and it was a huge hit, supposedly its based on an idea Universal rejected for a Creature of the Black Lagoon remake; in fact he’s making his own version of Frankenstein for Netflix right now. 2. Maggie Gyllenhaal is also working on her own adaptation of The Bride of Frankenstein for Warner Bros.