We haven't heard much about the future of Universal's Dark Universe since THE MUMMY underwhelmed at the box office last year, the remake of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was put on hold while director Bill Condon and screenwriter David Koepp focused on working out some script issues, and producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, who were supposed to oversee Universal's plans to reboot their classic monster properties in a series of films set within the same world, bailed on the project. Things got dark indeed for Dark Universe… but it appears that the studio is still pushing the idea forward.
The folks over at the Universal Monsters Universe website got word that artist Rob Vargas recently went to the Universal offices for a meeting with studio executive Holly Goline and THE MUMMY concept designer Crash McCreery. Vargas posted an image of the three together, mentioning in the caption that he looks forward to "contributing to the Universal Pictures legacy" with his work and that there are "monster things in the works".
UMU's Steven Biscotti noted that it's especially interesting that Holly Goline is now involved with the Dark Universe, as she has long been associated with Angelina Jolie, even working as her personal assistant for years. Jolie has been the studio's top choice to play The Bride in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.
Javier Bardem is already attached to play Frankenstein's Monster in the film. Condon has said that the script
turns everything on its head. This is Eve before Adam, the bride comes first. So in its own way — you know, we all know the Bride only exists for 10 minutes in the Whale movie; she’s there and the movie’s over. So I keep thinking [it’s], in a way, at least a tribute to what Whale might have done if he’d made a third Frankenstein movie and he’d done it in the 21st Century. I think there are just things about the sensibility of that movie. Also his genius in solving that basic problem you still see when people approach monster movies now, which is you’ve got to create a monster that you’re afraid of, that you’re terrified of, but you can still identify with, and that line was never walked better than by James Whale."
The Dark Universe plans are currently three and a half months behind schedule, as BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN had once been set to begin filming on February 1st.
I'm still rooting hard for Universal to figure out how to bring this cinematic universe together in a way that will be satisfying to both new viewers and established fans of the monster characters. I want to see new Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, Creature, Invisible Man, etc. movies that are all tied together in some way… So hopefully we'll be hearing some good news about the "monster things in the works" very soon.
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