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Universal Studios Classic Monsters Extended Universe - wuh?

eyeresist

eyeresist

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I don't know if there is a thread for this yet, but it seems a worthy topic for discussion. Universal doesn't have a blockbuster franchise of its own but it DOES have some classic monsters from the 1930s and 40s in its vault. Their attempt at rebooting Dracula was not a success, but they are doubling down with The Mummy --

Sofia Boutella as the Mummy! Tom Cruise as Tom Cruise! Russell Crowe will work for food!

And now -- The Rock as the Wolfman! (in his own movie, not The Mummy)

Other monsters in the running include the Invisible Man (J Depp), Bride of Frankenstein (A Jolie), and the Creature from the Black Lagoon (?).

This idea is crazy enough that it just might work -- or it could be a colossal trainwreck that makes BvS look like It's A Wonderful Life.

What are our thoughts? --
Are these character sacrosanct?
Can evil monsters be superheroes?
Is Tom Cruise too old to play Tom Cruise?​

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Ha! Well, there was nothing on the first two pages of the forum, so I assumed the topic had died. Silly me.
 
The Rock as the Wolfman? oooook... weird. i mean i like The Rock but when i think of people who could play the Wolfman he certainly isn't at the top of my list. could be interesting. i liked Dracula Untold. too bad they're just going to ignore it.
 
Universal doesn't have a blockbuster franchise? What about Fast and Furious? Or Jurassic Park? Or Despicable Me?
 
Individual franchises just aren't enough any longer. They want a universe of movies where characters can cross over and interact.
 
eyeresist said:
Are these character sacrosanct?
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If they were sacrosanct, Universal wouldn't have been able to transform them from their literary origins into very different movie characters in the first place. Bram Stoker's Dracula was an unattractive, unpleasant sexual predator, not an alluring seducer. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein's Monster was educated and articulate. And so on. It was reinvention that made them movie stars, so it would be ludicrous to object to a further reinvention.

Can evil monsters be superheroes?
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It's been done. DC has the Creature Commandos, and there was an old Saturday morning cartoon called The Drac Pack. Godzilla and Gamera both started out as rampaging beasts destroying human cities and then developed into heroic defenders of the Earth against evil monsters or alien invaders. The Incredible Hulk was much more of a sinister Mr. Hyde figure in his first two issues than the childlike lug he later became.


theenglish said:
Individual franchises just aren't enough any longer. They want a universe of movies where characters can cross over and interact.
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That's kind of what the Fast and Furious franchise is, though, I think. The later movies combined characters from earlier movies with separate casts.
 
Tosk said:
The Universal monsters had a cinematic universe decades before it was cool. :)
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Absolutely. Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolfman were crossing over into each other's movies as far back as 1943. And, after the disappointment of VAN HELSING, I so, so want this to work.

And, dear Universal, I am available for the novelizations. :)

(Seriously, the Universal Monsters are pretty much at the top of my bucket list when it comes to franchises I haven't written for yet.)
 
I admit I'm having a little trouble visualizing The Rock as the Wolfman, though. Kinda the point is that he's just an ordinary dude until the full moon rises, but The Rock is already larger-than-life. I can see him as Doc Savage, but Larry Talbot?

It always did seem a shame that the Mummy never got in on any of the crossover action. Hopefully, these new movies can remedy that.

And why do I think that Paula the Ape Woman is going to be sadly overlooked? :)
 
Greg Cox said:
Absolutely. Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolfman were crossing over into each other's movies as far back as 1943. And, after the disappointment of VAN HELSING, I so, so want this to work.

And, dear Universal, I am available for the novelizations. :)

(Seriously, the Universal Monsters are pretty much at the top of my bucket list when it comes to franchises I haven't written for yet.)
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Some 1931 movies had crossovers too, Universal started this whole trend. It's weird seeing them play catchup to everyone else now.

Dracula Untold was good, and I hate that they dumped it as the first movie. Charles Dance is coming back for Underworld: Blood Wars later this year so we at least get his as a Vampire one more time.

Tom Cruise, The Rock? ugh I'll just stick to the Marvel universe thanks.
 
Chemahkuu said:
Some 1931 movies had crossovers too, Universal started this whole trend. It's weird seeing them play catchup to everyone else now.
.
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Just to nitpick, the 30s movies recycled the same actors over and over, but the characters didn't start crossing over until FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN in 1943, followed by HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF DRACULA, and the Abbott & Costello movie.
 
I know, I own most of them. It was a curious continuity of it's own in the day, before the idea of the 40's monster mash era came about.

I just meant it's weird how that fell out of fashion until all of a sudden Marvel made it cool, and every studio jumped on it, Universal last.

At least tell me Van Helsing 2019 is going to have a better cast.
 
Chemahkuu said:
I know, I own most of them. It was a curious continuity of it's own in the day, before the idea of the 40's monster mash era came about.

I just meant it's weird how that fell out of fashion until all of a sudden Marvel made it cool, and every studio jumped on it, Universal last.

At least tell me Van Helsing 2019 is going to have a better cast.
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I'm not sure there were actually any continuity links between the 30s films. It's not as though Edward Van Sloan and Dwight Frye were literally playing the same characters in the various movies, although it often seemed so. :)

And Toho, of course, later carried on the tradition with Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Ghidorah, and that crew.

KInda makes you wonder why Hammer never did any monster mash crossovers.
 
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Mr. Adventure said:
It could be like Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, or, er, Chargers and Dinosaurs.
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How about The Fast and The Jurassic?
I think the idea of a Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe is cool, but seeing how hard it seems to be to get these things to work, I do question if we'll actually see it in the form they intend.
 
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