In an age where every studio tries to come up with new (or rather recycled) ideas for bigger and more profitable franchises, Universal remembered that it's holding the rights to some of the most iconic monsters ever seen in movies - the Mummy, Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster, the Invisible Man. And now it has revealed its plans for a new shared universe, aptly called (how else) Universal's Shared Monster Movie Universe.
To be noted, the studio also holds the rights for the successful Jurassic Park series, as well as for the Fast and Furious one (the latter being expanded to its own shared universe).
A pretty fun ride – but Universal aims for a horror-ish franchise
According to Variety, the studio decided to stay away from superhero franchises (at the moment, we say) and intends to bring back the monsters mentioned above, into a single cinematic universe. According to the magazine, the studio plans on releasing a monster movie each year, starting from 2017 (when The Mummy reboot is scheduled for release).
The other monsters Universal has eyes are Dracula (which will be most likely rebooted again, after the rather disappointing 2014 Dracula Untold), Van Helsing (which will also be a reboot, with John Spaihts of Prometheus and Eric Heisserer of The Thing writing), Bride of Frankenstein (for which the writers haven't been announced) and The Wolfman (no writers attached yet).
A failed reboot
What is known, at this moment, is that these movies will be brought by Alex Kurtzman (Transformers) and Chris Morgan (Furious 7), who are in charge of choosing and supervising a team of writers, with the goal of bringing all the monsters together on the big screen. According to Kurtzman, the intention is to bring both a spectacle on the big screens, as well as a story about humanity and what makes a human.
Here is what Morgan says about the competition between the MCU, the DCEU, and Universal's Shared Monster Movie Universe: "Heroes tend to be perfect, but most people in an audience aren't ever going to know what it's like to be the smartest, strongest, or fastest person alive. But there's a darkness inside everybody. And everyone wants to be able to turn a curse into empowerment. The monsters have been in the shadows, and now it's time to bring them out into the light." (via Variety).
It remains to be seen whether these plans will move forward or not - for the moment, what is certainly certain (if we may say so) is that the Mummy reboot will be released on the 14th of March 2017. It has no stars and no director attached, though a synopsis has already been revealed:
"The story follows Navy Seal Tyler Colt and his mission in the Iraqi desert to find a group of terrorists hiding out in a bunker. To his and his team’s surprise, the terrorists within the bunker turn out be nothing more than some grave robbers who have all magically died. Upon entering the bunker Tyler and his team also succumb to some mystical forces out of their control. They soon realize the bunker they have infiltrated is actually a centuries old tomb. Mayhem erupts as all the Navy Seal members start turning on one another and are captivated by the forces within the tomb. Tyler is the only one to make it all the way deep within the tomb alive to find a black iron sarcophagus. It’s marked with Egyptian symbols like the Ankh and Eye of Horus. Here Tyler is entreated by the forces to open the sarcophagus and release what is inside. But after placing his hand on the sarcophagus, he is immediately stabbed in the palm with a star shaped symbol. From then on Tyler’s mind is cursed with visions of Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria… The Mummy." (via IMDB)
