By Travis Johnson
Producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan have leaped boldly from the listing Demeter* that is Universal’s nascent Dark Universe horror franchise, leaving the whole shebang dead in the water and unlikely to move forward.
Nonetheless, Universal are exploring other options, with The Hollywood Reporter saying that they could offer the project to “…to high-profile filmmakers or producers (Jason Blum has been mentioned) with ideas for one-off movies not connected to a larger universe.”
Meanwhile, Kurtzman is focusing on TV work, including Star Trek: Discovery (which we don’t much like) and Morgan is throwing himself back into the Fast & Furious universe, penning the mooted spin-off starring Dwayne Johnson.
The writing has been on the wall for Dark Universe for a while now, though. Indeed, we called it back when we reviewed The Mummy earlier this year, and alarm bells were certainly ringing when Bill Condon’s Bride of Frankenstein got delayed/canceled (circle where appropriate). Looking back now, the whole thing reeks of hubris, coming off like a coke-fueled grand vision with no grounding in reality – a vivid big picture with nobody actually paying attention to the little details, like, you know, making good movies. In hindsight, that much-ballyhooed cast photo now looks hopelessly smug.
Perhaps the most damning detail to come out of this is the news that Universal had tricked out a whole office suite in horror regalia, to serve as DU HQ. “…it now sits mostly empty.” THR tells us.
It’s a crying shame. Everyone points to Marvel as the obvious model for modern franchise building, but Universal was crossing over its monster properties decades before RDJ built himself an iron suit, albeit in a much more haphazard and less continuity-conscious manner. It’s hard to believe there’s no place for Frankie and and the boys in he contemporary cinemascape – rather, that Universal’s mega-budget and bloodless approach ill-suited the material. There’s an audience for horror that is currently in its ascendancy – look at the success of Get Out for just one example – and an enduring affection for the Universal take on Dracula, The Wolf-Man, and pals. Hopefully the powers that be will figure out a way to use these characters going forward, but for the time being sealing the Dark Universe back in its crypt seems like the smart play.
*That’s a Dracula reference. Universal, hire me!
Dracula Untold was a good film and massively underrated.
I was disappointed that they weren’t making a sequel and continuing the story.