Can "The Dark Universe" survive?

[The Curmudgeon]

So, unperturbed as I was with its (many) negative reviews, I actually went to see the new Mummy movie on Saturday. And hey, it's no classic, but it's a fun movie with some nice moments (and a shameless rip-off of a plot from American Werewolf in London) It's not been nearly enough to either derail the unstoppable Wonder Woman juggernaut, or please pretty much anyone who saw it except the most die-hard of Cruise fans (that would be me and Mrs C, it would seem).

And while Marvel slowly introduced their "shared universe" of movies with little references and fanboy frenzy inducing end credit scenes, this new Universal series are keen to absolutely hammer that point home. The opening shot of the Universal logo is quickly replaced with a black and white "DARK UNIVERSE" logo. They really are keen on this being a franchise, but when fucking Kong: Skull Island is more subtle than you, you're on shaky ground.

Anyway, Universal are planning a TEN movie series based on their classic monster characters, ranging from Dracula to the Creature from the Black Lagoon to the Invisible Man to Van Helsing himself, and while Tom Cruise's Mummy picture was head and shoulders above Hugh Jackman's dire Van Helsing movie (another aborted attempt at a franchise), the grim reviews and tepid box-office of the Mummy must put severe doubts on any kind of franchise, never mind some enormous ten movie deal.

So they've got the cast (Depp, Cruise, Crowe), they've got the cash... can this Universe really ever work?

[trashcanman]

First, they have to stop assuming big names are the answer. Robert Downey Jr was pretty much done when Iron Man hit. Hemsworth and Evans weren't big stars. The movies were great and so they became stars. Only Scarlet Johansson was a really huge draw prior to the MCU, and she wasn't even a headliner. Stars don't make movies, movies make stars, and unless Universal figures that out, this shit is dead in the water. Blowing your budget on big stupid CG effects and massive celebrities isn't going to impress old school horror fans, who are the only ones who give a shit about a "Dark Universe" (god, that sounds lame). Give us genuinely scary and well-written movies with modest budgets and we'll come. Otherwise, they can go and fuck themselves.

I don't need a CG Creature from the Black Lagoon lifting boats out of the water and twirling them through the air or doing backflips out of the water to snatch Jennifer Lawrence off the boat or raising an swarm of killer fish to chase a jetskiiing Will Smith while constantly missing him by just a millimeter for five minutes. I don't want to see a Dracula in giant badass CG armor at the head of an army of the undead engage in a ten minute epic swordfight with Channing Tatum with the fate of the world in the balance. What, are the Wolfman and Frankenstein's Monster going to be fifty feet tall duking it out all over London, smashing Big Ben while breathing fire and shooting laser beams out of their eyes while Ben Affleck and Angelina Jolie try to devise a way to stop them while dodging flying rubble by inches? Fuck. That. Shit.

Marvel's films built something amazing by putting quality ahead of spectacle and celebrity. If Universal wants a slice of that pie they'll have to do the same.