The Dark Universe is dead. Long live... Something else? Following the failure of 2017's The Mummy to spark a connected series of films based on Universal's horror back catalogue, a new strategy is in place. And one of the first movies to emerge from this attempt to marshal the monster movies will be a take on The Invisible Man from director Leigh Whannell.
According to Variety, this new focus on singular, filmmaker-driven projects comes as the studio has turned to successful producer Jason Blum, and his Blumhouse company will oversee the various movies. Unlike his usual formula, there aren't the same budget restrictions, but the focus will be on each director's ideas for the characters. Whannell, who worked with Blumhouse on Insidious: The Last Key and last year's fun, retro action thriller Upgrade, will develop the latest screen incarnation of HG Wells' tale of a scientist who discovers an invisibility serum, only for the side effects to warp his mind.
And though the Dark Universe might be gone as a concept, some of the actors who were announced or appeared (Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp and Javier Bardem among them) may still show up. Depp, despite being attached to a previous, connected version of the Invisible Man story, isn't going to stick around for Whannell's take.
Several directors are pitching ideas, so we'll be seeing new monster movies sooner rather than later, no longer strung together in a horror-focused attempt to ape the MCU. "Throughout cinematic history, Universal’s classic monsters have been reinvented through the prism of each new filmmaker who brought these characters to life," says Peter Cramer, Universal’s president of production. "We are excited to take a more individualized approach for their return to screen, shepherded by creators who have stories they are passionate to tell with them."
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