News Head of Blumhouse Productions Interested in Reviving Dark Universe Franchise

[JD]

During a recent conversation, Jason Blum, the CEO and Founder of Blumhouse Productions, and producer on Get Out, Split, and the upcoming Halloween and Spawn reboots, was asked if he would be interested in reviving the Dark Universe franchise and he answered with a very enthuastic "YES!!!". He was also asked later about the chances of Blumhouse getting the rights to other big franchises and said that "the chances are excellent". There's no definite proof the two comments are connected, but the two questions being answered so positively so close together does make me wonder if he's already got things at least in the planning stages regarding the Dark Universe characters.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Putting the famous horror movie characters of all time in the hands of someone with proven success with horror movies seems like a good idea. Hopefully we'll get a decent Frankenstein movie, focus more on the monster as a character similar how Westworld is more about the Hosts than the humans.

 

[theenglish]

Putting the famous horror movie characters of all time in the hands of someone with proven success with horror movies seems like a good idea. Hopefully we'll get a decent Frankenstein movie, focus more on the monster as a character similar how Westworld is more about the Hosts than the humans.

Considering that was how the original novel was...I would love to see a connected universe similar to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Something that actually honors and respects the source material while still doing something new with it.

 

[thribs]

I didn't know it needed reviving. They've only done one movie so far.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Considering the characters are in the public domain there is nothing stopping another studio from creating their own “dark universe”.

 

[Kemaiku]

Considering the characters are in the public domain there is nothing stopping another studio from creating their own “dark universe”.

Yes but the point was, they were trying to reboot their own 1930's monster mash era movies. Complete with the same general meetups and working a newer version of their 2004 Van Helsing into it (which was originally meant to come out next year), throwing in references when they could.

Instead they managed to nearly completely remove any good B/W Universal feel from the two we got.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Considering the characters are in the public domain there is nothing stopping another studio from creating their own “dark universe”.

I think Universal has the rights for the iconic look of Frankenstein's Monster established by Boris Karloff. All the other Frankensteins not related to Universal had to create their own look. Also, wasn't the Black Lagoon Creature original to the movie?!

 

[theenglish]

There has been only one "dark universe" movie, The Mummy. If any studio wanted to model their movies based on the literary characters, all of these are in the public domain (unless Universal has some sort of film rights to theatrical versions. If anyone wanted to use the specific set up from the Mummy or from previous movies then that would be different. But it would also be a stupid movie to base future films on The Mummy set up--just start fresh.

 

[mos6507]

There has been only one "dark universe" movie, The Mummy

Wasn't Dracula Untold supposed to be retroactively a Dark Universe movie?

 

[thribs]

Wasn't Dracula Untold supposed to be retroactively a Dark Universe movie?

It was designed so it could be but it was never officially stated as being one.

 

[Kemaiku]

Wasn't Dracula Untold supposed to be retroactively a Dark Universe movie?

It wasn't when it went into production. But they added the scene in the modern day with Caligula and Dracula during post production to try and set it up.

They changed their minds and wanted to do yet another Dracula movie. With the Mummy, J&H, Van Helsing 2019 and a new Frankenstein movie (later down the line so as to leave room after I, Frankenstein and Viktor Frankenstein).

They could still do a sequel to the 2014 movie and not have it interrupt the UDU.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Considering the characters are in the public domain there is nothing stopping another studio from creating their own “dark universe”.

It's more about the Universal Monsters and not the generic ones. They still seem to be recognizable enough that Universal thinks it can work.

Also once they get to Creature from the Black Lagoon, they should make it like The Shape of Water. He's the romantic hero now and has to fight the human trying to take him from his home.

 

[kirk55555]

I really wanted the Dark Universe to work because I love the old universal monsters, but they just fell off a cliff right out of the gate with the Tom Cruise Mummy. I'm pretty sure whatever original plan they had for the DU is dead, and honestly I don't want to see anything more from the creative forces and the executives responsible for The Mummy.

That said, I'd be excited for other people to try. I'd have loved to see Guillermo Del Toro try his hand at one of the classic universal monsters (just keep him away from The Creature From the Black Lagoon, the last thing a Universal Monster Universe, or the world in general, needs is more creepy fish porn ).

 

[Gepard]

The Dark Universe makes way more sense as a series of smaller-budgeted horror movies than it ever did as a bunch of pseudo-Marvel action movies. The Conjuring universe proves you can be quite successful at a shared horror universe without all the glitz and hype of what Universal had been trying to do.

 

[Christopher]

I think Universal has the rights for the iconic look of Frankenstein's Monster established by Boris Karloff. All the other Frankensteins not related to Universal had to create their own look.

That's right, and it applies to their designs for the other monsters as well, and any interpretations or characters unique to the Universal films.

Also, wasn't the Black Lagoon Creature original to the movie?!

Yes, although producer William Alland based the concept on a folk tale he'd heard about man-fish creatures in the Amazon, crossed with elements of Beauty and the Beast and King Kong. (Put the first two Gill-Man movies back to back and you've got basically the same story arc as King Kong.)

 

[Kemaiku]

I'd probably prefer another studio that at least cared about creating a decent horror anthology to take over right now. Not demoting it entirely to B movie land but getting some indie talent in etc

 

[JD]

Is it just me, or is Blumhouse kind of becoming this generation's Hammer?

 

[kirk55555]

I actually just looked up Blumhouse, because I had never heard of them before...yeah, its a good thing Universal isn't going to let their specific monsters get used by anyone else. The company behind Unfriended, The Purge and Ouja really shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as the Universal Monsters. Its like people wanting the next Men In Black movie to be made by the people behind Meet the Spartans and all the other "Two of the Six producers of Scary Movie" movies.

Also, the difference between Blumhouse and Hammer is that Hammer, from what I've seen, had more then one good movie Researching this, I saw that Blumhouse are working on the new Halloween movie, which I was excited forwhen it was announced but now know I should skip it and not even bother with another trailer, much less the movie. So, now I'm sad that we're not getting new good universal monster movies and that the next Halloween movie is going to be as bad, if not worse, then that garbage Rob Zombie shat out years ago

Still, its a good thing this came up now. I can now keep an eye out and stay away from anything with "Blumhouse" tied to it, and I'm no longer getting tricked into thinking that the new Halloween movie has any chance of being good.

 

[Terok Nor]

They should start off the next revival with a horror movie that's actually scary. And set it in the 19th Century or some other time in the distant past. Who the hell wants to see Dracula running around in the Twitter era? Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

[mos6507]

Also once they get to Creature from the Black Lagoon, they should make it like The Shape of Water. He's the romantic hero now and has to fight the human trying to take him from his home.

Should it have a lot of green pie in it too? What's the point? It's been done already. And Fox would probably sue.

Maybe the bold thing would be to actually do these films traditionally again, maybe even in B&W like the Mist Director's Cut. But they've got to do something a little unexpected. And not formulaic gender-flipping (like The Mummy).