Universal Monsters

[TheFuture]

A sequel in this universe has my blessing as long as Sofia Boutella is in it. She owned the role.

 

[Mysteryman]

Glad to hear that about Sofia.
I Love her.

 

[2kt09]

The reason why they chose to go action instead of horror is that there is no real money in horror. If you look at the higher grossing films the first horror film you'd hit is Jaws at 94...and is really not a horror film. The only real horror movie, The Exorcist was sitting at 172 on the list....a film from 1973. Blumhouse is doing good in the genre but is it because their films blow up at the box office or that they cost $20 to make?

So the best thing for Universal was to make their Dark Universe 4 quadrant movies so that everyone will go see and make as much money as possible. I think what really hurt the movie (I haven't seen it yet) was it was too close to Wonder Woman. I think last week when WW looks to be a hit someone at Universal should have been cutting a "Look the Mummy is woman in our film" trailer. I don't think they will scrap the universe just yet since the money has already been committed...but they may adjust their movies...like WB/DC did

It is the other theme park movie studio after all.

 

[Gort Baringa]

Just watched the second series of Gotham on DVD and I believe that James Frain who played Theo Galavan could do a nice Boris Karloff interpretation. Just put the flat-top skull on his tall frame and he would be a classic! Others have tried to do a version of the Frankenstein stories, but only Universal has the rights to that particular unique look.

 

[TheVileOne]

The four quadrant strategy didn't really work for The Mummy.

 

[Octoberist]

@Roach what hurt The Mummy wasn't just Wonder Woman (which people were on the fence on before the release before it became a sensation). It was that the trailers were uniformly awful, then the reviews were awful.

It feels like the film was neither here or there. It doesn't look that fun..it looks dark but for the wrong reasons...the 'Cruise scream' became a wonderful meme so early on that I can't help but to keep thinking about that and not the movie itself.

I have higher hopes for 'Bride' but jeez, Universal.

 

[dude stannis]

Except when it did in 1999. They just shouldn't have done it this time.

 

[Octoberist]

It's just a different world in 2017 compared to 1999.

 

[TheVileOne]

Except when it did in 1999. They just shouldn't have done it this time.

The 1999 movie was a straight period action-adventure movie. It wasn't aspiring to also be a part horror film or a franchise picture either. When you watch the original, it's a completely standalone film. There's no cliffhanger ending or even a hint at a sequel. Also, the period setting gave it a nice nostalgic and throwback feeling to Indiana Jones. Even the musical score sounded like Jerry Goldsmith basically doing his own version of the John Williams Indiana Jones score.

This movie seemed to fail by trying to be so many different things. It wanted to be a horror thriller and an action adventure movie and comedic and part of a larger expanded universe. By trying to be so many things it failed at all of them.

 

[Octoberist]

The mid to late 90s was the time when we didn't have any more Indiana Jones or Star Wars movies (well ...The Phantom Menace), so that's why The Mummy and Independence Day were such a big draw. Plus the advancement in VFX with CGI, and that they're fun movies, helped.

 

[TheVileOne]

It's just a different world in 2017 compared to 1999.

Yeah back around that time, it was make a big popcorn tentpole movie, and if it did well, there could be sequels. But for all their flaws, at least they were just focused on that one movie and not on "shared universe" or trilogy.

This was still pre-Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, X-Men, and the completion of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

 

[TheVileOne]

The mid to late 90s was the time when we didn't have any more Indiana Jones or Star Wars movies (well ...The Phantom Menace), so that's why The Mummy and Independence Day were such a big draw. Plus the advancement in VFX with CGI, and that they're fun movies, helped.

Also the original Men in Black. And I agree 100 percent. I still maintain The Mummy and even ID4 are classic films and still hold up remarkably well.

 

[samsnee]

so soon this picture will have as much meaning


as this

I feel like this photo should be like Marty's in Back to the Future, as people slowly start to fade out of the picture.

That first photo, I am not even sure that they are all in the same room.
Tom Cruise and Russel Crowe are not the same height.

They weren't.

From left: Russell Crowe, Javier Bardem, Cruise, Johnny Depp and Boutella in a Dark Universe cast photo released May 22 (the stars weren’t all there; Universal "composited" them together).

 

[Mysteryman]

The image of Russel Crowe in particular looks photoshopped.
Almost as if it came from the film itself.

 

[zenith16]

so this is what the studio claiming with Brendon fraser's mummy . this is also in the mummy thread too .

​

Brendan Fraser's Mummy Is Apparently Canon In The Dark Universe

13 hours ago| Read more

A lot of people were disappointed in Tom Cruise’s Mummy movie for many different reasons, and one of them was the absence of former Mummy star Brendan Fraser. As it turns out, director Alex Kurtzman believes that Fraser’s Rick O’Connell is still part of the Dark Universe canon, and his story was just taking it somewhere new.
Talking to Digital Spy, he said:
“You have to pay homage and tribute to everything that came before. I have nothing but respect for all the films that have been made, and the filmmakers who’ve made them. To deny their existence in any way, I think would have been incredibly rude. So, all of those films are part of the history of the Universal monsters, and as such I thought, rather than say it’s not part of the canon, let’s say, ‘No, it is part of the canon; we’re just taking it somewhere new’.”
There is also the fact that there’s a deliberate Easter Egg referencing Fraser’s Mummy movies in this film. When Cruise finds himself in Prodigum, Russell Crowe’s secret organization of supernatural peacekeepers, we get to see the Book of Amun-Ra, the McGuffin present in the original ’99 Mummy movies.

Since it was apparently lost in by the time The Mummy Returns ended, it’s possible that the backstory is that Prodigum was able to retrieve it somehow over time. Since they do keep track of everything supernatural happening in the world, it’s no mystery that O’Connor’s adventures have found their way under the radar.
Personally, I’m just hoping for Brendan Fraser to get back into making movies. He seems like a really nice guy, and I think he deserves to end the Mummy franchise with a bang that was not Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
For now you can catch Tom Cruise running from monsters in The Mummy which is currently out in theaters.

See Also: What Does Brendan Fraser Have To Say About Tom Cruise In The Mummy Reboot?

source: http://epicstream.com/

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

A sequel in this universe has my blessing as long as Sofia Boutella is in it. She owned the role.

She was fantastic.

 

[Mysteryman]

They definitely leave it open for Sofia to return.

 

[TheFuture]

I've never had a problem with Brendan but I've no idea why his absence here has become such a talking point. Kurtzman in particular addressing such ridiculous complaints just shows once again how green he is. Any director worth his salt would dismiss any such questions as irrelevant.

 

[MydnightPhoenix]

A classic cinematic horror universe would have been cool but only if it was that and not turning them into superhero types.

 

[samsnee]

A classic cinematic horror universe would have been cool but only if it was that and not turning them into superhero types.

Yeap. If they decide to do a team-up movie, it won't be the Mummy meeting other monsters. It will be Tom Cruise with super powers meeting them.

 

[tanita_mors]

I just want my Phantom movie at this point, and I don't care if it's part of this "universe" or not.

The Invisible Man is another one that I think has immense potential.

I want that Phantom movie as well.

And a big huge YES on Sofia returning. They definitely left it open for her return. She to was just ...

 

[The Guard]

Where is this "superhero" thing coming from?

Is The Mummy a superhero in this movie?

Also, do Kurtzman's comments mean that the original classic films are potentially part of the canon, too? That would be fun. Weird black and white flashbacks in the middle of a modern film.

 

[TheFuture]

Where is this "superhero" thing coming from?

Is The Mummy a superhero in this movie?

Also, do Kurtzman's comments mean that the original classic films are potentially part of the canon, too? That would be fun. Weird black and white flashbacks in the middle of a modern film.

I think when people say superhero they're talking about the generic aesthetic of the genre being applied to this film. The Mummy could have been set in any MCU film, it was that bland looking (yes there are the odd exceptions)

The DU should have a visually rich and atmospheric aesthetic as a point of pride. We didn't get that here. That's why I keep laughing at Dracula Untold's omission here: there's no differentiation between what was presented there and here tonally so you really have to ask what the point was of dropping the continuity. Ironically they would have been better off keeping Dracula.

 

[tanita_mors]

I always found Dracula Untold kind cheap looking - almost tv level. Not the special effects, but everything else, the locations, most of the cast besides Evans and Dance, the extras, the atmosphere / maybe it was the blandness and bleakness of Romania in those times... IDK, the story was different, an attempt to merge the real Vlad Tepes with the Dracula mythos, but it came out unsatisfying to me. This was a more satisfying experience - made me want to see more.

 

[TheFuture]

Looking cheap was one of the film's problems though I don't think the actors had anything to do with that. Even the supporting cast felt menacing as vampires even though all they had to work with were essentially fangs.

One of the reasons I felt DU should have been kept as part of the continuity is that it at least set an interesting plot development at the end with talented actors in Evans and Dance to steer it. It was a decent building point to work upon, and one that was better than trying to make The Mummy the thing that makes it all work.

DU bombing was the nail in its coffin but the Mummy fared no better, only now with an even more underwhelming point of foundation to build upon.