👋 Your watchlist just got better.

• 🎥 Superman | 7.11

• 🎥 Sovereign | 7.11

• 📺 Dexter: Resurrection | 7.11

Plus, the Nobu doc comes out this week (interviews here).

TRENDING

• 🦸 Warner Bros.' $225M Superman reboot becomes DC's "last, best hope" to finally rival Marvel's cinematic dominance (Rival costuming here).

• 🚪 A24's "The Backrooms" movie casts Mark Duplass and Finn Bennett with 19-year-old Kane Parsons as youngest A24 director ever.

• 📺 Larry David returns to HBO with American history sketch show - Barack and Michelle Obama executive producing post-Curb comedy.

• 📱 Craig Robinson's comedy "retirement" was elaborate prank to promote AT&T ad about AI alarm clock business (here’s the ad).

• 🌙 Marvel Studios developing Moon Knight sequel, follows Oscar Isaac's Disney+ series about Egyptian vigilante (we interviewed the creator here).

• 😈 Peter Stormare's white-suited Devil in Constantine came from actor's idea, rejecting director's original metalhead concept (C2 news here).

• 📰 "The Paper" Office spinoff poster reveals Dunder Mifflin documentary crew focusing on dying Midwestern newspaper - September 4 Peacock.

FEATURE

⚰️ Universal’s Failed Dark Universe Revival

Sometimes the most spectacular failures are the ones that never actually happened. Universal's Dark Universe—their audacious attempt to turn classic monsters into the next Marvel Cinematic Universe—died so quickly that most fans never realized how close we came to witnessing either a masterpiece or a magnificent disaster of unprecedented proportions.

That infamous 2017 cast photo wasn't just marketing material—it was a prophecy written in Photoshop. The image featured Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Sofia Boutella, Johnny Depp, and Javier Bardem, but none of these A-listers were actually in the same room together. It was the perfect metaphor for a universe that existed only in spreadsheets and studio executives' fever dreams.

The photo represented something far more ambitious than anyone realized at the time. Universal planned to reboot Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Phantom of the Opera, and Hunchback of Notre Dame, creating an interconnected web of gothic horror that would span decades.

What We Almost Witnessed

The scope of Universal's vision makes the MCU look quaint by comparison. Beyond the obvious tentpoles, the Dark Universe would have fundamentally redefined how audiences experienced horror:

• Johnny Depp's Invisible Man would have been the franchise's wildcard entry. Ed Solomon of Men in Black was set to pen the script, positioning the character within the shared universe. Imagine Depp's eccentric energy channeled into a character who could literally disappear—the meta-commentary writes itself.

• Angelina Jolie's Bride of Frankenstein represented the crown jewel of the franchise. Bill Condon signed on to direct with a Valentine's Day 2019 release date, with the original script beginning in the 1870s and transitioning to the Bride re-awakening in the present day. This wasn't just another monster movie—it was positioned as a feminist reimagining of one of cinema's most iconic female characters.

• The Russell Crowe Strategy proved Universal understood the assignment from day one. Crowe's Jekyll would likely have been the Dark Universe's equivalent of Nick Fury, the man who would bring all disparate franchises together as the leader of Prodigium. Unlike Marvel's gradual world-building, Universal was engineering their nexus character from the first film.

• Javier Bardem's Frankenstein's Monster would have anchored the franchise's emotional core. Bardem was featured in the cast photo alongside the other leads, confirming his central role in the universe. The pairing with Jolie's Bride promised a love story spanning centuries—Titanic with reanimated corpses.

• The Channing Tatum Van Helsing represented the franchise's action-hero pivot. Tom Cruise was initially set to play Van Helsing before moving to The Mummy, with Tatum being eyed for the role by 2017. This casting choice signals how Universal planned to balance horror with blockbuster sensibilities.

The Precision Behind the Madness

Universal's strategy contained sophisticated elements that Marvel hadn't attempted. The studio was creating a horror-action hybrid that would have redefined both genres simultaneously.

Director Alex Kurtzman explained the underlying appeal: "audiences would be enamored with and even relate to the darker sensibilities of figures like Dracula and The Wolfman, especially compared to the perfect physicality and heroics of traditional superheroes". This wasn't just monster movies—it was an exploration of what heroism looks like when your protagonists are literally cursed.

The ambitious scope becomes clear when examining Kurtzman's casting wishlist: "I'd love to bring Michael Fassbender in. I'd love to bring Jennifer Lawrence in. I'd love to see Charlize Theron in there, Angelina Jolie". Universal wasn't just making monster movies—they were assembling the most expensive therapy session in Hollywood history.

The $410 Million Funeral

With a worldwide box office haul of $410 million, The Mummy was a failure at the box office and solidified the Dark Universe as a shared cinematic franchise that should not have happened. But the numbers don't capture the cultural impact of what died with that failure.

Tom Cruise's unprecedented creative control became the franchise's fatal flaw. Cruise wielded "nearly complete creative oversight" and was said to have felt like the "real director," handling action sequences and "micro-managing" when Kurtzman struggled with the scope. This wasn't collaboration—it was a hostile takeover disguised as star power.

The domino effect proved swift and merciless. Shortly before filming began in October 2017, production on The Bride of Frankenstein was delayed, clearly in direct response to The Mummy's critical and box office failure. By 2019, the entire Dark Universe was officially declared dead.

In the end, Universal's Dark Universe succeeded in the most unexpected way possible: by becoming itself a cautionary tale worthy of its own monster movie franchise.

PUNCHLINES