Universal Studios’ Dark Universe may have failed upon the release of The Mummy, but the commercial and critical success of The Invisible Man proves that, in some way, the crossover idea may yet have a future. Although the Dark Universe as a big-budget studio undertaking is officially dead, Blumhouse signaled a way to use the rights to the Universal’s horror properties in order to create films with lower costs and higher financial returns. Thus the Universal monsters may reach the limelight once more, only it won’t be quite the same shared world as the studio originally intended them to inhabit.
Originally, Universal Studios planned for Dracula Untold, released in 2014, to mark the beginning of a shared universe for the Universal monsters. The vampire origin story was in post-production when Universal ordered reshoots to set up a sequel and potential franchise spin-offs. However, the film’s financial disappointment caused Universal to distance Dracula Untold from future plans. Instead, producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, who were hired to lead the creative direction of this initiative, announced The Mummy reboot as the first official entry in the franchise, at this point dubbed the Dark Universe.
Unfortunately for them, Tom Cruise’s star power and the promise of a blockbuster spectacle were not enough to convince people to see the movie, and the project ultimately bombed at the box office in 2017. The Mummy was widely criticized for its forced plot points connecting the film to the Dark Universe, which exposed the transparency of studio interference. Bride of Frankenstein, which planned to start shooting in February 2018, was indefinitely delayed, and the Dark Universe came to an embarrassing halt. In its place arrived producer Jason Blum’s standalone horror-thriller, The Invisible Man.
Dark Universe’s Future Rests On Standalone Movies
After years of missteps and commercial failures, Universal has finally found a successful direction for its Dark Universe in Blumhouse’s low-budget, horror-heavy approach. Whereas The Mummy was mired by unnecessary connections to a shared universe, The Invisible Man exists independently as a small, grounded suspense tale. Any connection to a larger world was absent, as Jason Blum allowed writer and director Leigh Whannell to focus on telling a complete narrative without any open-ended ideas hinting at sequel potential. Audiences completely unfamiliar to the Universal monsters can watch The Invisible Man and clearly understand the story without prior knowledge of its creative basis.
The film is a remake that deviates significantly from the original movie with few callbacks besides shared names and subtle visual references. Although it is based on a licensed property, The Invisible Man exists in its own, contained world. Herein lies the path to a resurrection of sorts for the classic Universal monsters, who clearly benefit from their own standalone movies rather than an interconnected Dark Universe. The pattern is similar to DC’s Joker, which is likewise a standalone movie with a smaller budget than most other comic book adaptations. The film delivered Warner Bros. its most profitable comic movie, exceeding the financial returns of films taking place in the DC Extended Universe, and gained critical acclaim.
The Dark Universe is not necessarily dead, it just ceases to exist in the form that Universal’s executives originally intended it to. Modern-day interpretations of the studio’s intellectual properties have, so far, proven to be the most sensible choice of action. Those in control will have to be sure to keep the characters separate from each other and, ironically, keep the Dark Universe from turning into a bona fide cinematic universe. This not only gives creatives more freedom to incorporate fresh ideas as Whannell did in The Invisible Man, but it also keeps the audience from feeling confused and frustrated by a lack of familiarity with the Universal monsters.
