Did Universal Fix Its Dark Universe Problem?

Disney created a movie universe problem. It wasn’t a trend. Trends tend to catch on somewhat successfully. They are replicated, at least in a way that is recognizable as said trend. That was not the case with those who tried to recreate the MCU on their own terms. Other companies saw the success of the first Avengers film and said, “How can we do this but more quickly and with less (or too much) thought?” There were many notable examples, but few failed to get off the ground as spectacularly as Universal’s Dark Universe.

Set to incorporate Universal’s classic roster of movie monsters, the Dark Universe was launched in 2017. The company kicked things off with a new Mummy film starring Tom Cruise and a photo of Cruise with the other actors set to star in the corresponding films. The picture (which was totally taken with all the actors in the same room) included Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, and Russell Crowe (the latter four were cast as the titular Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde respectively). The picture is one of only two tweets from the official Dark Universe Twitter account and is still up.

Witness the beginning of a #DarkUniverse. pic.twitter.com/8g9eIbQfGa

— #DarkUniverse (@darkuniverse) May 22, 2017

The Mummy tanked. It made almost twice its reported budget but was critically reviled and mocked mercilessly by theatergoers. I would bet dollars to donuts that if you asked someone who isn’t terminally online their thoughts about the “Mummy movie,” they would absolutely reference Brendan Fraser rather than Tom Cruise. Plans for the Dark Universe disappeared like the Invisible Man Depp was set to play (side note on a Depp-starring Invisible Man: gross). It has been presumed that Universal’s plans were dead and, unlike so many stitched-together corpses, would not return with a bolt of lightning.

Just a month ago, people (myself included) were mocking the anniversary of the picture of a cast that mostly never was. The Dark Universe has become a bit of a running joke. An engine for those jokes is often the idea that folks are no longer interested in the Universal Monsters. I would disagree with that criticism, though that includes bias on my end. There is plenty to gain from classic movie monsters like Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein’s monster. Universal thinks so as well.

The company announced yesterday that it would be adding an extensive Dark Universe portion to its theme park in Florida. Parkgoers will be able to explore intricately designed areas of the park that offer family-friendly thrills and adult-oriented chills. There are familiar faces and some that have been redesigned and updated to create new lore. There’s a freshness to it that doesn’t feel forced. I’m not a theme park person, and I’m excited regardless!

It has yet to be said if the park will be the exclusive holder of the Dark Universe moniker going forward. Universal hasn’t scrubbed it from anything else. But it doesn’t look like they are moving forward with the connected universe. Instead, we’ve seen them offer less traditional takes on pre-existing characters. If the park is successful, they can kind of ignore that they ever tried to start a cinematic universe. Some will remember and continue to joke about it. But most will still say, “Yeah, with Brendan Fraser, right?”