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[TheEvilDog]

The latest multi film franchise has been announced, Universal's Monsters have been branded as the Dark Universe (well I suppose Warner Brothers got the name Monsterverse first...)

Originally the series was to be begin with Dracula Untold, but when the film underperformed, it was cut loose and Luke Evan's take on the Prince of Darkness has been left an orphaned film. Instead, the first film of the series will be The Mummy, which opens this weekend and followed by the Bride of Frankenstein and the Creature from the Black Lagoons in 2019 and the Invisible Man the year after that. Every other film has yet to be announced, but at least 6 more films are in development. The idea seems to be that the main monsters already exist in the setting, but won't be serving as the headliners just yet, instead the series foundation will be built on the female monsters; Sofia Boutella's Mummy and the unannounced Bride of Frankenstein.

Meanwhile Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp have both been confirmed as Frankenstein's Monster and the Invisible Man respectively, and its feels like something of a mixed bag, on the one hand, I've been a fan of Javier Bardem since seeing him in No Country for Old Men, but on the other, I really can't stand Johnny Depp for so many reasons.

Danny Elfman has composed a piece that will serve as a liefmotif throughout the series, so if you're a fan of Danny Elfman, you should be happy.

I don't know how I really feel about this. Universal Monsters were one of the first film series that attempted to connect its films through crossovers, but it was always something of an afterthought, but it did help influence the creation of the original connected Kaiju films from the 60s on and the MCU, who themselves brought the idea of a tight and connected by a storyline shared universe to the public consciousness and the DCEU. But at the same time, how many more films will decide to set up their own shared universes?

Regardless, I'm interested in seeing how this turns out. But what do you folks think?

[Blue Kitty]

So far the Mummy is getting mixed reviews, most saying it's not that good. They've also added two news films in the series, the Hunchback and the Phantom of the Opera

[TheEvilDog]

Yeah, I thought the film wouldn't set the world on fire.

The joke the past few weeks have been the movie starts off with Tom Cruise's character finding the sarcophagus, opening it and find Brendan Fraser in there, who shoots him and talking to the female lead, which leads to...the Mummy (1999). Which I imagine is what a lot of people wanted. Tom Cruise just doesn't have the appeal he had in the 1990s or even the early 2000s, so a lot of them are put off by the concept of the film and his character, who is slated to appear in several of the films.

The current line up of films and release dates for the next three have been announced:
- Bride of Frankenstein, 14th February 2019
- Creature from the Black Lagoon, 16th August 2019
- Invisible Man, 17th April 2020
- Untitled Van Helsing film, TBA
- Untitled Wolf Man film, TBA
- Untitled Frankenstein film, TBA
- Untitled Dracula film, TBA
- Untitled Phantom of the Opera film, TBA
- Untitled Hunchback of Notre-Dame film, TBA

Still waiting for them to announce the Monster Force or Monster Squad film...

[TheEvilDog]

Looks like the Dark Universe is going to collapse before it even got started after several producers have walked away from the nascent franchise.

[LeeC]

I hate to be "that guy" but its probably for the best.  I don't think it could have lived up to Monster Squad anyways. 

[TheEvilDog]

To be honest, I was wary of the idea from when they announced the attempt and yet tentatively excited.

From what I understand, the whole affair felt like a mish-mash of idea that they were flinging at the walls and seeing what would stick. Which wasn't much.

The MCU worked because Marvel weren't setting out to make a unified universe per se, more of a couple of in-jokes that grew very quickly. Bear in mind that 10 years ago, Marvel was still limited in what they could do with characters, Fox still owns the X-men and Fantastic Four rights, Sony the Spider-man, Universal had the Hulk and I think New Line Cinema still owned Blade back then.

As it was, Marvel took a gamble and it paid off big time, but I think it was the right time and more than a bit of luck that helped them. Following the leader hasn't worked out well for the DCEU (Well, not yet anyway, that might change with Justice League) and it looks like the gamble the Dark Universe failed before it began.

Actually, this makes me think that Marvel's cinematic franchise rival might not be the DCEU, but Warner Bros/Legendary's Monsterverse. Just a shame about the Dark Universe, but that's the way the film crumbles.