Remember when every movie studio thought the secret of Marvel’s success was a shared universe? Universal’s Dark Universe was an attempt to bring all of the studio’s horror icons into the modern era with their own shared universe. The studio also managed to recruit an all-star lineup including Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Edward Hyde, Javier Bardem as Frankenstein’s Monster, Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man, and Tom Cruise as the star of The Mummy. However, it all fell apart after The Mummy unraveled at the box office.
Chris Morgan, one of the key architects behind Dark Universe, was recently interview by io9. And while Morgan won’t admit to having any Dark Universe regrets, he did acknowledge one of the key mistakes.
“I don’t [have] regrets or anything like that,”said Morgan. “I think it probably was trying to come together too quickly, I would say. And I think everyone got to take a breath and take a step back and take a look at it, and now just focus on maybe doing it a little bit slower.”
RELATED: Is Universal’s Dark Universe Dead?
One key example is pictured above. Crowe’s Jekyll/Hyde was put into The Mummy, and his scenes seemed more important to the world building than to the actual story. Universal assumed that audiences would simply embrace Dark Universe, but The Mummy proved otherwise. An earlier attempt, Dracula Untold, failed to take hold in 2014. That movie was subsequently abandoned before The Mummy. However, Morgan’s departure from Dark Universe was the unofficial confirmation that it was all dead.
Universal is currently producing a new Invisible Man remake. Oliver Jackson-Cohen is taking over the title role from Depp, and Elizabeth Moss is co-starring in the film. Universal and Blumhouse will release it on March 13, 2020.
Where do you think Dark Universe went wrong? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Viewing: Universal Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931-1946
