In film history, the 2010s will likely be headlined as the age of the shared universe. The success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the time inspired nearly every studio in Hollywood to attempt their own interconnected franchise. However, before all this, it was Universal Studios who first originated the idea of a shared universe when they premiered the Universal Monsters brand in the 1930s.
What started out as a slew of stand-alone genre mash movies turned into a series of crossover flicks that showcased meet and greets between the various monsters in their arsenal. The series was highly popular, so much so that their very images are the iconic ones we often still picture to this day. These films and these characters (from Dracula and Frankenstein to the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, and even the Mummy) still speak to audiences decades later.
In light of Marvel's success, it made sense that Universal Pictures would once again attempt to shape the various monsters in their intellectual stores into a new shared universe. The plan was set in motion in what came to be known as The Dark Universe. Yet the plan failed, and it was quickly abandoned.
Lucky for us, Universal Pictures released a slew of details about their plans for The Dark Universe in the lead-up to The Mummy. While the shared universe did not happen as planned, we can still glean from this not just what could have been but what might still be from these headlines. Here is a breakdown of all the canceled films in Universal's Dark Universe and how the brand has, like a good movie monster, returned from the dead.
Update February 1, 2024: Following the announcement of Universal Orlando's new theme park Epic Universe featuring a Dark Universe branded land, this article has been updated with more information on each canceled film and what Universal has planned for their monsters in 2024.
What Happened to the Dark Universe?
While technically, The Dark Universe began with the unceremonious kick-off of 2014's Dracula Untold, it was not until the release of The Mummy in 2017 starring Tom Cruise that things really began to take shape.
The gamble seemed a sure-fired bet from the start. After all, The Mummy franchise had already been successfully rebooted once into a profitable franchise nearly twenty years earlier. Now, with arguably one of the biggest action stars on the planet, Tom Cruise, in tow, Universal Studios moved full steam ahead on their plans for a new franchise. They created a special logo, unveiled a publicity photo highlighting the movie star talent they had acquired to man the series, and set The Mummy up for success with a prime summer release date. Everything seemed ready to go for the first installment... but once audiences saw The Mummy, everything changed.
After its premiere, the film received negative reviews from critics and audiences alike. It came in at number two during its opening weekend at the box office behind Wonder Woman, which was already in its second weekend. The Mummy made only $80 million domestically (a total that was slightly softened by its $409 million worldwide haul).
After this lingering failure, plans for The Dark Universe appeared to have died before they even began. Universal spent the rest of the summer trying to salvage the franchise, but by the end of the year, it was clear that audiences had moved on. Instead of trying to resurrect it further, Universal cut their losses and, for the most part, moved on. Here are all the abandoned Universal Dark Universe Plans.
Channing Tatum as Van Helsing
In 2004, Universal attempted to relaunch its classic monsters brand with the film Van Helsing. They brought on The Mummy and The Mummy Returns director Stephen Sommers in hopes of recapturing that magic for Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman. Despite a massive marketing push and star power like Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale, the movie was a box-office disappointment.
However, Universal appeared interested in revisiting the idea for The Dark Universe. In 2012, it was reported that the studio was considering a reboot alongside The Mummy in the early stages of what would become the shared universe. Tom Cruise was initially set to play the role of Van Helsing before he moved over to The Mummy. By the time 2017 rolled around, it was reported that Universal Pictures was eyeing Channing Tatum for the part. Just a few months later, Universal scrapped their original Dark Universe plans and their Van Helsing adaptation along with it.
Dracula Untold 2
Dracula Untold has a weird placement within the Dark Universe. The movie was greenlit before the plans to make an interconnected universe began so it was a standard solo film with the hope of making more Dracula sequels. Yet by the time the movie was filming and getting ready for release, Universal Pictures had announced they were developing an interconnected universe of their classic monsters. Reshoots were done so that Dracula Untold could be part of the shared cinematic universe, but following the film's critical and box office disappointment, it was established that The Mummy would be the official start of the franchise and left the door open for maybe Luke Evans returning.
Dracula Untold 2 clearly never happened. For what it's worth, the first film certainly left a clear setup for a sequel. Luke Evans, who played the titular character, has since stated he would be open to reprising the role. Universal Pictures instead opted to take the character in a different direction. Two solo Dracula films were released in 2023: the comedic Renfield and the gothic horror film The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Both were box office bombs but it doesn't appear that Universal has given up on Dracula, as two more films connected to the iconic monsters are set for release in 2024, but more on them in a bit.
Russell Crowe's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Henry Jekyll of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is considered perhaps one of the first Universal Movie Monsters (though that title technically goes to his alter ego, Edward Hyde) in 1913. At the time, Universal was known as The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated, a name that would soon be shortened to the one moviegoers know and love today. In fact his most popular cinematic incarnation is not from Universal Pictures but instead from MGM who released the 1941 version starring Spencer Tracey.
Thanks in part to 2004's Van Helsing, which featured Mr. Hyde in an early action scene, the character is now commonly folded into the Universal Monsters phantheon. While he has undergone many iterations, the latest iteration held a prominent role in The Mummy. Based on the Gothic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson of Treasure Island fame, in this iteration, the titular character was played by Russell Crowe in what was clearly intended as a precursor to his very own film (or, at the very least, a recurring character throughout The Dark Universe).
In this version, Dr. Henry Jekyll kept his inner Mr. Hyde at bay through quarterly injections every four hours. Universal Pictures wanted the character to be a sort of Nick Fury figure, as he was in charge of their version of S.H.I.E.L.D. titled Prodigium, which was a secret society in charge of hunting down supernatural threats. While no official film was announced, casting Russell Crowe meant they had big plans for the character, and The Mummy even features a scene where he becomes Mr. Hyde to tease audiences about what to expect from the character. Yet The Mummy flopped and there have been no plans for a new movie featuring Dr. Jeykll or Mr. Hyde.
Johnny Depp's Invisible Man
Universal Pictures had been in the process of developing a new version of The Invisible Man since at least 2006. The project truly picked up steam in February 2016 when Johnny Depp signed on to play the title character. Screenwriter Ed Solomon of Men in Black was set to pen the script. At the same time, it was also confirmed that The Invisible Man would be set within the upcoming shared universe.
Depp was seen in the Dark Universe publicity photo released in 2017 alongside The Mummy co-stars Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella. The photos also featured Russell Crowe, as well as Javier Bardem, who had signed on to play Frankenstein's monster. However, the combination of The Mummy's box office disappointment and troubling headlines surrounding Depp and his divorce from star Amber Heard resulted in the project ultimately being scrapped.
It was eventually reworked into the smaller stand-alone version released in 2020 by producer Jason Blum, a feminist horror modern classic that went on to gross $143.1 million worldwide. That film helped set Universal Pictures' new template for their monster movies, focusing instead on smaller budgeted films that played around with the iconography to make them fit in a modern horror world.
Universal is working on a remake of 1940's The Invisible Woman, a horror comedy that was the third entry in the original Invisible Man franchise. The film will be directed, produced, and star Elizabeth Banks (Cocaine Bear, Charlie's Angels).
Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback
While not as immediately iconic members of the Universal Monsters, both the Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback are two more of Universal Picture's oldest movie monsters. Universal Pictures released two versions of The Phantom of the Opera, the first in 1925 starring Lon Chaney and a remake in 1943 starring Claude Rains. Meanwhile, Universal Pictures also released The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923, which also featured Lon Chaney as the titular monster.
While no official plans were made regarding these two projects, Dark Universe architect and The Mummy director Alex Kurtzman did name-drop both characters as monsters the franchise wished to explore.
Dwayne Johnson's The Wolfman
The Wolfman is part of the trinity of Universal movie monsters alongside Frankenstein and Dracula. Because of this, Universal Pictures has been working on a remake of this for years. They finally got their wish in 2010 with The Wolfman, starring Benicio Del Toro. Unfortunately, the film at the time was a box office and critical disappointment.
The idea of a new, shared universe that would unite the various monsters brought new light to the concept, making The Wolfman once again a priority. While no release date was ever set for The Wolfman and no director ever signed on, it was rumored that Dwyane Johnson was the studio's top pick at the time. Johnson had previously played a Universal monster as The Scorpion King in 2001's The Mummy Returns and the spin-off film The Scorpion King. Johnson likely would have been interested as it would have helped grow his brand and would have fit his business model of taking on iconic characters in franchises, which, following The Dark Universe debacle, he would move full steam ahead on Black Adam for Warner Bros.
Once The Dark Universe concept was scrapped, the project shifted to a stand-alone film. The film has undergone many changes behind the scenes. Leigh Whannell, who directed 2020's The Invisible Man, was originally signed on to direct, but he then dropped out. At the same time, Ryan Gosling has signed on to the film to star in the film and even helped develop the story and, in 2021, brought on his Blue Valentine director, Derek Cianfrance, to helm the movie. Yet now both Gosling and Cianfrance have dropped out of the project with Whannell now returning to the directors chair and Poor Things actor Christopher Abbott playing The Wolf Man.
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Of all the Universal monsters, The Creature from the Black Lagoon has been the one that Universal Studios has had the most difficulty with over the years. Long before The Dark Universe plans were crafted, John Carpenter, Peter Jackson, and Ivan Reitman were all approached to helm a remake in the 90s. In 2002, Guillermo Del Toro signed on to direct it from the creature's point of view. While Del Toro was eventually let go from the project, he went on to turn the concept into his award-winning 2017 film The Shape of Water.
The hand of a Gil-Man-type creature can clearly be seen in The Mummy, setting it up for a future role in the would-be franchise. Rumors circulated that the studio was considering Scarlett Johansson for the lead role, and Will Beall was even hired to write the film. Unfortunately, the project has yet to move forward since the collapse of The Dark Universe.
Angelina Jolie as The Bride of Frankenstein
The Bride of Frankenstein is the film that was the closest to being made before the box office bomb of The Mummy derailed the whole series. David Koepp, the writer behind Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, signed on to write the film in 2015. Bill Condon, hot off the box office hit of 2017's Beauty and the Beast, signed on to direct Bride of Frankenstein with a release date set for Valentine's Day 2019. The movie would star Angelina Jolie as the Bride of Frankenstein and Javier Bardem as Frankenstein's Monster. The original script began in the 1870s and transitioned to the would-be Bride re-awakening in the present day.
Shortly before filming began in October 2017, production on The Bride of Frankenstein was delayed to work on the script, a move that was clearly in direct response to the critical and box office failure of The Mummy that summer. The production delay meant they might lose Jolie. In response, the studio was considering Gal Gadot to take over.
Despite meeting with production heads in 2018, the plans for the Dark Universe were scrapped and The Bride of Frankenstein became another high-profile project with a lot of headlines that never materialized.
Mina Harker
This is a notable one as it was not even a Universal Picture decision but one by a rival studio, showing that even others are struggling with the classic characters. Miramax Pictures had been developing a film centered on Mina Harker of Dracula fame. In the original story, she becomes the object of Dracula's infatuation, and her being nearly turned into a vampire herself serves as impetus for the story's other characters to act and slay Dracula.
Karyn Kusama of acclaimed Jennifer’s Body and Yellowjackets fame was set to direct this modern reinterpretation by Blumhouse, who had already successfully relaunched The Invisible Man after the box office flop of The Mummy and the scrapped Dark Universe. This feminist take would have placed Mina (played by Jasmine Cephas Jones of Hamilton fame) in modern Los Angeles. It came as quite a shock when the project was scrapped a mere three weeks from shooting in 2022. The joint venture between Miramax and Blumhouse was cut down because of creative differences between Kusama and Miramax.
Notably, Blumhouse did not take the film to Universal Pictures, and they did not pick the movie and save it. Instead, this is a canceled film that, while not part of the Dark Universe, has an interesting connection to its legacy.
Will The Dark Universe Be Resurrected?
Universal Pictures' plans for a united cinematic universe of their classic monsters could easily have died with The Mummy. Luckily, the studio has not given up on its classic monsters. Following the release of The Invisible Man, the studio has opted for smaller-scale films based on their classic monsters with unique takes, not concerned with crossovers. While this worked for The Invisible Man, it did not pay off with the back-to-back flops of Renfield and The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Yet Universal Pictures is still taking chances with these icons. Notably, they have four films connected to The Universal Monsters set for release in 2024.
First up is Lisa Frankenstein, set for release on February 9, 2014. The film is distributed by Universal Pictures subsidiary Focus Features and is a horror romantic comedy from screenwriter Diablo Cody, famous for her Acadamy Award-winning script Juno and writer of a cult horror hit, Jennifer's Body. Lisa Frankenstein is a reworking of the classic Frankenstein story. Kathryn Newton is Lisa Frankenstein, a goth girl who reanimates a Victorian-era corpse (played by Cole Sprouse) to be the man of her dreams. It is a very different take on a classic Universal Monster story but just what the brand needs.
Next up is Abigail, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not and Scream VI). Up until the film's trailer, the title or premise was not known except that it would be a modern-day adaptation of one of the Universal Classic Monsters characters. Now, it is confirmed to be a reboot of the 1936 film Dracula's Daughter and will offer a unique spin on Dracula and his daughter, here named Abigail. The film focuses on a group of kidnappers who capture and must watch over the daughter of the most powerful underworld figure for the $50 million ransom, not realizing she is a vampire and the figure they have now angered is, in fact, Dracula. The film is set for release on April 19, 2024.
On October 25, 2024, just in time for Halloween, will be Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man. Other than Christopher Abbott, nobody has been cast, but if the film is intended to make its release, expect news coming fast as it will need to enter production soon if it wants to meet its planned release date.
Then, closing out the year for Christmas is Robert Eggers Nosferatu. Eggers has become one of the most prominent names in horror following his 2015 The Witch and 2019 thriller The Lighthouse for A24. After teaming up with Universal Pictures for The Northman in 2022, he is now set to bring one of their most iconic movie monsters to life. This will be the second remake of the 1922 German silent film, which itself was an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula., which Universal would later make one of its biggest titles. Now, they are bringing the copycat into the official fold. Bill Skarsgard will play the main vampire, with a supporting cast that includes Nicolas Hoult, Lily Rose-Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, and Willem Dafoe.
While The Dark Universe might be dead as a franchise, it appears still to have some value to Universal Pictures as a brand. On January 30, 2024, they officially unveiled their latest theme park coming to Universal Resorts in Orlando, Flordia, Epic Universe. In addition to themed areas based on Nintendo, Harry Potter, and How to Train Your Dragon, they also revealed a section that will be dedicated to their Universal Monsters. Instead of calling it Universal Monsters, they are calling it Dark Universe. It is unclear if this is a sign that they will market and brand these monsters as moving forward, but it is clear that at least the Dark Universe will live on in some form.