What's your thoughts on the new Universal Monsters series?

[The Curmudgeon]

So this is seemingly ticking along in the background, this series of horror films that all share the same universe. Obviously looking to tap into the "see one, see them all" Marvel franchise that has seen them take ridiculous box office, this new franchise is going to take Dracula, the Mummy, the Invisible Man and all of those crazy guys, give them all a movie each and then link them all together, maybe culminating in a Universal Monster All Out Attack movie. Could happen.

So here's what we know so far.

The Mummy is out in 2017, starring Tom Cruise. But Russel Crowe also makes an appearance as Dr Jeckyll, so I'm pretty sure we know where that's going. Whether Hyde makes an appearance or not, the Universal Monster Universe is taking shape.

There's very little to go on from there, with only "two un-named projects" after the Mummy and then the Johnny Depp starring Invisible Man after that in 2019.

So how do you think these will be? Cruise, Depp and Crowe are dependable box office draws (well, Depp used to be) and will certainly give the series some weight. But can the Mummy still be scary in 2017? Can Frankenstein's Monster (played by Javier Bardem, the psycho assassin from ) really still give people chills? More to the point, can you see the public flocking to these enough to create a planned EIGHT movie franchise?

[trashcanman]

You know this is going to be a cheesy Marvel-esque action franchise and not horror right? Besides, Universal Monsters already had a shared universe back when they were good. This is just going to be Van Helsing spread out over 20 hours in the next decade. Fuck that shit.

[The Curmudgeon]

Ha, figured you might say that.

OK, indulge me here. Take a look at the trailer for the Mummy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vIKudQ3_y0

So they're definitely not going down the horror route, but it doesn't look like they're going down the Indiana Jones caper route that the Brendan Fraser movies went down either. And of course, my man TC is in it, so it's an instant win for me.

Interested? At all?

[trashcanman]

Doesn't look horrible, but there's nothing there that doesn't scream mindless Hollywood fluff" right down to casting the biggest "People will watch him even if they know the film's crap" action star. Imagine that approach taking that approach with Dracula, the Wolfman, or Frankenstein. Exactly. Maybe it'll be good, but I seriously doubt it.