is this stinker enough to abort the whole bad idea of dark universe?
I’m afraid so.
-xtien
“When it’s over you will thank me. I promise.”
Don’t forget that this was already V2 in terms of trying to do the Monster Universe.
V1 was back with 2014’s Dracula Untold, featuring Luke Evans. The idea around that was that Charles Dance’s character would be the “unifying knot” through the entire universe.
That bombed, and they went with V2. Aka, throw lots of money/% of gross at real movie stars.
Also, aren’t all these monsters in the public domain? There’s nothing to stop other studios from making Dracula or Dr Jekyl movies.
I’m kind of surprised that since it’s last sequel to the original over 60 years ago, no one has remade Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Thing, The Fly, and The Blob were all remade 30-odd years after their originals, and practically every semi-major horror film from the 70’s has been remade/rebooted, but the Creature remains untouched.
That’s because the creature is pretty much perfect and doubtful it can improved upon.
Seriously, that’s some freaky stuff.
Right, which is why the studio is branding them as the “Dark Universe” franchise. Ideally, down the line, the Dark Universe Dracula would be a thing distinct from other vampires just as Iron Man is distinct from other dudes with power suits. At least, I suspect that’s the thinking at Universal.
-Tom
Even more amazing was that it actually had an underwater breathing apparatus built in. I’m amazed that aren’t commercially available for sale.
The Frankenstein makeup by Jack Pierce for Karloff has also never been topped
I’d like to share your view on that, but the remakes of Robocop, Ghostbusters, Total Recall, Clash of the Titans, Nightmare on Elm Street, Planet of the Apes, Willy Wonka, Poltergeist, Psycho, and on and on tell me there must be some other reason.
Hah, best review. I may actually go see it now (I also liked Dracula Untold). A bit bummed to learn that Untold was ‘v1’ of Dark Universe and abandoned, cause I liked those characters.
No, Universal has said that these movies, though in the DU, are independent of each other.
It’s sad to hear this movie is not very good, because Sofia Boutella is really hot. Also, this Dark Universe thing does not appeal to me, just like all the recent Marvel stuff.
WHAT. SHE HAS A JULIETTE LEWIS NOSE.
What are your feelings about the StreetDance universe?
I think xtien’s point is that The Mummy’s box office failure puts into doubt whether Universal will go ahead with the whole Dark Universe concept. Given how tenuous the franchise is now – Angelina Jolie isn’t signed on yet for the 2018 Bride of Frankenstein, and there are no announced dates for a supposed Johnny Depp Invisible Man and Javier Bardem Frankenstein – I wouldn’t be surprised if they scale it down or just let it go. Right now all they have to show for it is a Dracula movie they’d like to disown and a bloated Tom Cruise vehicle that didn’t make any money.
-Tom
You guys are terrible at not watching trailers. Just get a decent pair of in ear headphones and listen to a podcast for a while. Nobody can hear them so you’re not disturbing anyone and you really don’t have to blast them either. Just loud enough that you can focus on the podcast and you won’t hear anything from the trailers except explosions and the parts where they go BWAAA.
It’s pretty easy to tell when trailers are ending even if you’re not looking at the screen and every theater I’ve ever been to has an ad for concessions between the trailers and the movie so you have plenty of time to put the headphones away.
Fingers in your ears and humming, sheesh.
PS if you’re going to see The Mummy maybe just leave the headphones in.
Let me expand my comment. Universal has said that the others are going forward regardless of the results here exactly because, despite this so-called “shared universe”, the films stand alone. That makes little sense but that is what they have said.
Can you link me that? I wasn’t aware they were making any official commitments about the franchise after The Mummy’s opening weekend.
-Tom
https://culturess.com/2017/06/12/the-mummy-was-a-failure-but-universals-dark-universe-will-continue/
It’s pretty hawt.