This year’s The Mummy wasn’t exactly a massive financial hit for Universal, nor was it very well received by general audiences, critics or, well, anyone else. Of course, the Tom Cruise-starring film was supposed to kick off the new Dark Universe… but it may have actually killed it dead in its tracks.
Universal has already announced that Bill Condon will be directing a new take on Bride of Frankenstein, set for release on Valentine’s Day 2019, and they’ve also teased that reboots of films such as Invisible Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein are in the works. They’ve even let us know that Johnny Depp and Javier Bardem are involved in the Dark Universe.
But this was all before The Mummy under-performed at the box office and was trashed by critics. Now, the future of the shared universe isn’t looking so bright. And Alex Kurtzman himself, who directed The Mummy and is one of the key creative forces behind the Dark Universe, isn’t so sure where Universal will be going from here… if anywhere at all.
IGN just asked Kurtzman if he is still involved in the Dark Universe, and his response doesn’t seem to give much hope for the future of this particular universe.
“You know the truth is, I don’t know. I really don’t know,” Kurtzman told IGN. “I haven’t really decided, is the honest answer.”
Will Universal go back to the drawing board, continue as planned, or trash the Dark Universe altogether? We hope to soon find out for sure.
