To say the very least, Universal’s “Dark Universe” didn’t exactly work out back in 2017, with that year’s The Mummy failing to light up the box office or prove that the studio’s plan to reboot their iconic monster properties in the Marvel style was a good idea. The Tom Cruise-starring film made over $400 million at the worldwide box office but was a domestic flop, and it wasn’t long before Universal quietly pulled the plug on the entirety of their so-called “Dark Universe.” Several other planned reboots, well, they’ve still never gotten off the ground.
In a new chat with THR, The Mummy director/”Dark Universe” co-architect Alex Kurtzman confirms that he’s no longer involved in the “Dark Universe” (if it’s even still a thing at all), and he also admits that The Mummy didn’t exactly turn out how he hoped it would.
“The Mummy wasn’t what I wanted it to be,” Kurtzman flat out told the site. “I’m no longer involved in that and have no idea what’s going on with it. I look back on it now [and] what felt painful at the time ended up being an incredible blessing for me. I learned that I need to follow my own instincts, and when I can’t fully do that, I don’t think I can succeed.”
He added, suggesting that he now understands what horror fans actually want from Universal Monsters movies, “Those films are beautiful because the monsters are broken characters, and we see ourselves in them. I hope those are the movies that they make; I want to see them.”
The next film in the “Dark Universe” was to be a new take on Bride of Frankenstein, with Bill Condon in the director’s chair. At this time, that project seems dead in the water.
