The Dark Universe Thread

[number8]

Harsh reporting from Variety trying to blame the flop on Cruise, but this is the paragraph that is most relevant to the discussion in this thread:

Universal knew that if it wanted “The Mummy” to compete against the likes of “Wonder Woman” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” it needed every ounce of Cruise’s waning star power. As the studio scrambled to deal with weak tracking, it released a portrait in late May of Cruise with other actors from the Dark Universe franchise, including Depp and Javier Bardem (who will play Frankenstein). Yet the studio couldn’t even assemble all the actors in the room at the same time, and the image had to be Photoshopped. The Internet reaction to the last-ditch marketing effort was tepid at best. It was another reminder that the big names that once ruled Hollywood are inspiring a lot less love from audiences..

[Dukefrukem]

It's also the reason why Cruise appears as tall as Crowe! Mystery solved!

[Dukefrukem]

We should start pool on the inevitably low tomato meter score. Whoever guesses closest wins .. something? Sidebets for predicting if this will be more poorly received than I, Frankenstein.

We should do this for the next movie. For fun.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I doubt any of these films will match the $8.6 million opening weekend and 3% Tomatometer for I, Frankenstein.

[Dukefrukem]

Despite it only making $78 mil in the US, the Mummy still somehow managed to make ~$400 WW.

[Dukefrukem]

Channing Tatum eyed for For VAN HELSING; Angelina Jolie still Eyed For BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

The Mummy (2017)
Untitled Bride of Frankenstein film (2019)
Untitled Creature from the Black Lagoon film (2019)
Untitled Invisible Man film (2020)
Untitled Wolf Man film (TBA)
Untitled Van Helsing film (TBA)
Untitled Frankenstein's monster film (TBA)

Sofia Boutella as The Mummy - Confirmed
Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll - Confirmed
Johnny Depp as Dr. Jack Griffin / The Invisible Man - Confirmed
Javier Bardem as Frankenstein's monster - Confirmed
Angelina Jolie as Bride of Frankenstein - Unconfirmed
Dwayne Johnson as the Wolfman - Unconfirmed
Channing Tatum as Van Helsing - Unconfirmed
TBD Creature
TBD Dracula

[Dukefrukem]

Whelp. Universal has decided to pause production on the Bride of Frankenstein in order to work on the script

https://deadline.com/2017/10/bride-o...ie-1202182510/

[D_Davis]

That seems like a good idea.

[Irish]

So it looks like the whole "dark universe" thing might be ... dead.

Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan have left the project entirely, Universal canceled "Bride of Frankenstein" pre-production, and Angelina Jolie is no longer attached.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hea...rverse-1055854

[number8]

[Dukefrukem]

Bummer.

[number8]

Honestly, subcontract it to Blum. I feel like he can figure out a way to pull this off... as horror movies.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Honestly, subcontract it to Blum. I feel like he can figure out a way to pull this off... as horror movies.

True; he's already built the Conjure-verse.

[Irish]

Fuck Jason Blum. This is what I'd do:

Universal wants to sell these overseas, which automatically makes them event films, which also puts them in Tom Cruise territory. (Hence the focus on marquee names and movie stars in the old lineup.)

I'd go the other way. Instead of focusing on the actors and the F/X, I'd choose a group of international directors who have at least some background in horror. Mike Flannagan, Pascal Laugier, Mary Harron, Hideo Nakata, Adam Wingard, James Wan, Joon-ho Bong, Julia Ducournau, Ti West, Ana Lily Amirpour, Hong-jin Na, etc.

Then I'd round up $35-65 million for each film, give each director a set time to develop and shoot, and release 1 movie every October like clockwork until I run out of material or I end up producing "Key & Peele Meet Frankenstein in 3D." Only a few rules: No house style, no CGI, and you gotta spend 6 mos - 1 year writing the fucking script.

When all is said and done, I have a buncha movies that, metaphorically, exist somewhere between "anthology" and "mixtape." Maybe I make money, maybe I don't, maybe the quality and the audience swings wildly between each film, maybe I luck into a 21st century "Cat People" that dorks will still talk about in 50 years, who knows?

The idea certainly can't do worse than "Dracula Untold" and "The Mummy."

[Dead & Messed Up]

...and you gotta spend 6 mos - 1 year writing the fucking script.

This needs to become the new normal. I was so bummed when I learned WB gave David Ayer six weeks to write Suicide Squad. No wonder that movie played like a spit draft.

[Dukefrukem]

This needs to become the new normal. I was so bummed when I learned WB gave David Ayer six weeks to write Suicide Squad. No wonder that movie played like a spit draft.

I mean, there's a reason why Marvel spends years of pre-production on their scripts. Look how long it takes them to select a director. Suicide Squad felt like it was announced, cast and filmed in a summer right after Comic Con.

[Grouchy]

It's a great idea but it comes from the thinking of a person who likes to watch good movies and not an executive.

What these big shots actually tried to do was copy Marvel's success with the Universal cast of characters which is presumably less expensive to own, and with the remaining huge movie stars that had somehow failed to jump into the superhero movie bandwagon.

[Grouchy]

I wonder how long it took to write Assault on Arkham, the good version of that movie.

[Dukefrukem]

I wonder how long it took to write Assault on Arkham, the good version of that movie.

Love that movie. I may rewatch it tonight now.

[Irish]

This needs to become the new normal. I was so bummed when I learned WB gave David Ayer six weeks to write Suicide Squad. No wonder that movie played like a spit draft.

It's my pet theory that most movies and shows suck because nobody has time to work the material. When they do, everybody gets a superior result.

Case in point: Two of the most successful movies this year --- "Get Out" and "The Big Sick" --- had unusually long development times at the script level (which those writer/directors probably won't have on their sophomore efforts, sadly).

[Dukefrukem]

Blumhouse has had a great year...

Split
Get Out
Happy Death Day

Combined a budget of $18.3 million making WW $610.4 million

[Skitch]

Love that movie. I may rewatch it tonight now.

It makes Suicide Squad look so much worse. I've watched AoA like four times now. JUST DO THAT, ASSHOLES! You had the blueprint! You had to work to fuck that up. Yet, they did.

[transmogrifier]

I mean, there's a reason why Marvel spends years of pre-production on their scripts.

They only need all that time because they have to cram in call backs and cameos and tedious teases for future installments. That shit takes time. The actual stories are inevitably as cookie cutter as they come.

[Skitch]

They have to work out how to make it appeal to the wiiiiiiidest possible audience...which also makes it safest, least threatening, easiest to digest....

[Dead & Messed Up]

On the one hand, Marvel has a sure sense of how they want their films to function in terms of tone (both visually and emotionally) and in terms of the larger checkers game of how characters feed in and out of films. That all feels careful and thought-out. On the other hand, I feel like you see a real sense of exhaustion and boilerplate signpost narratives* in their recent standalones in terms of the actual storytelling.

[*: Stories where they've hit all the beats of a good stand-alone but never really did the work to earn those beats.]