Movies
How the ‘Universal Monsters’ Will Meld Brains…
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.

Movies
It’s Official: Ryan Gosling Playing ‘Ghost Rider’ in MCU Movie Being Directed by Shawn Levy
Ryan Gosling (Project Hail Mary) has made no secret of the fact that he’d love to play Ghost Rider in a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, and it’s now officially happening.
Announced by Marvel out of San Diego Comic-Con tonight, Ryan Gosling will play the iconic Marvel character in a Ghost Rider movie being directed by Shawn Levy!
Expect Ryan Gosling to play Ghost Rider on the big screen in 2028.
Johnny Blaze is of course the most iconic and well-known Ghost Rider, selling his soul to Satan and becoming a supernatural badass. Nicolas Cage brought Blaze to life on screen in both 2007’s Ghost Rider and 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, while Gabriel Luna more recently played the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider in the series “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
Luna was set to star in his own Ghost Rider spinoff series in the wake of that small screen appearance, but that Hulu project ended up being squashed before it ever had a chance.
Fans have been waiting for Ghost Rider to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe for many years now, with Ryan Gosling making it clear that he’d love to bring the character back to life.
That Hollywood dream is coming true. Stay tuned for more as we learn it.


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