Yesterday I went on a rant about my distaste for direction of the new Universal Monster movies.
While it’s hard to gauge what’s really going down, knowing that Dracula Untold is part of the universe has destroyed my interest. Whether we like it or not, they’re going down a long path that begins with a new The Mummy (June 24, 2015), and then will tell of The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein, and even The Bride of Frankenstein.
But what’s unique about the vision is that it will now be a shared one.
While Dracula Untold stands on its own (and hopefully gets erased from the lore), Heat Vision writes that Noah Hawley, the creator of the fantastic “Fargo” television series, Aaron Guzikowski, the scribe behind the gritty Hugh Jackman-Jake Gyllenhaal movie Prisoners (as reported yesterday), and Ed Solomon, the veteran screenwriter behind Men in Black and Now You See Me, have joined Chris Morgan and Alex Kurtzman to act as a writers collective of Universal Studios’ cinematic monster universe.
The plan is for these “Monster Men” to act akin to Pixar’s brain trust, or more aptly, like a well-oiled television writer’s room, where all will have a hand in each other’s movies and offer help as needed as they work on a model of serialized storytelling, explains the site.
This is either incredible news or incredibly bad news. The “brain trust” concept is a really fun concept, and something I can get behind, but it all depends on who the dominant writer is in the room. For example, if Guzikowski and Hawley have control of the room, they could really bring new “edge” and a fresh take to the characters. The aforementioned have a knack for writing compelling characters and understand that there’s more to a movie/show than cool scenes.
That’s where Morgan and Kurtzman come in. If they are the alpha writers in the room, they could easily cut down any good ideas being thrown on the table by Guzikowski and Hawley, and inject their own probably garbage.
Does that make sense?
From the outside looking in, there are some positive signs, but also a lot of red flags. Universal has always made interesting choices, but historical backs away from taking chances – hence why Mark Romanek exited the 2010 The Wolfman remake, which led to the garbage directed by Joe Johnston.
When Guzikowski and Hawley get creative, bold and daring, how will Morgan and Kurtzman, let alone Universal react? Who will become the Invisible Man in the room?
I guess we’ll find out next summer with The Mummy. I pray it’s not the same mind-numbing, CGI heavy, fart-buster as Dracula Untold.
