With The Mummy quickly approaching, Universal is starting to get plans in order for their shared cinematic universe which is set to feature all of the studio’s classic monsters. That includes the Invisible Man, Frankenstein, Dr. Henry Jekyll, the Mummy and more. They’ve tried to get this project off the ground for a while now, most recently with the failed Dracula Untold, but it looks like they’re really going to do it this time as they’ve just made the whole thing official.
In a press release sent out earlier today, Universal announced Dark Universe, which is the name they’ve now given to their burgeoning shared world. Not only that, but they’ve also released the project’s official logo and provided a group shot of some of the key players set to bring these films to life – seen in the gallery below. Included in the pic are Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe and Sofia Boutella of The Mummy, Johnny Depp of The Invisible Man and Javier Bardem, who we can now confirm will star as Frankenstein – despite the actor playing down the rumors just this past week.
As mentioned above, The Mummy will be kicking everything off on June 9th. It’ll then be followed by Bill Condon’s Bride of Frankenstein, which is set to release on February 14th, 2019.
“I’m very excited to bring a new Bride of Frankenstein to life on screen, particularly since James Whale’s original creation is still so potent,” stated Condon. “The Bride of Frankenstein remains the most iconic female monster in film history, and that’s a testament to Whale’s masterpiece—which endures as one of the greatest movies ever made.”
In regards to how all these films will connect to one another, as suspected, it has to do with the “mysterious multi-national organization known as Prodigium.”
At its organizing principle, Dark Universe films are connected by a mysterious multi-national organization known as Prodigium. Led by the enigmatic and brilliant Dr. Henry Jekyll, Prodigium’s mission is to track, study and—when necessary—destroy evil embodied in the form of monsters in our world. Working outside the aegis of any government, and with practices concealed by millennia of secrecy, Prodigium protects the public from knowledge of the evil that exists just beyond the thin membrane of civilized society…and will go to any length to contain it.
You can expect to learn a lot more about Prodigium when The Mummy hits theatres next month, and it’ll be fascinating to see how this all starts to develop and grow, given that most cinematic universes revolve around superheroes and the like. As such, if Dark Universe is executed properly, it could be a real breath of fresh air and provide audiences with a brand new franchise to get excited about.
Time will ultimately tell whether or not the studio is successful with this new endeavour, but they’ve certainly got ambitious plans in place and we’re hopeful that everything works out. One way or another, we’ll have a better idea of what Universal has in store for us here in just a few short weeks, when The Mummy bursts into theatres on June 9th.