Since the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, every major studio in Hollywood has wanted its own cinematic universe of coherent stories. Most attempts at a MCU equivalent with a different brand to create, have failed and have left nothing more than a sad franchise hull.
One of the most fascinating examples comes from Universal. in the Dark Universe should bring together the studio’s iconic horror monsters. These include the mummy, the invisible man and Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The first attempt in this direction was Dracula Untold, starring Luke Evans.
Dracula Untold really wanted to be part of the Dark Universe
Dracula Untold tells the origin story of the most famous bloodsucker. Directed by Gary Shore, the fantasy horror action blockbuster takes us to 15th-century Transylvania and confronts us Dracula as a tragic hero that could have appeared in future Dark Universe films.
You can watch the trailer for Dracula Untold here:
Dracula Untold – Trailer (German) HD
In fact, additional recordings even took place after the original filming to create a Connection point to future adventures to create from the planned franchise. Set in contemporary London, the post-credits scene of Dracula Untold sees Evans’ character meet a woman named Mina (Sarah Gadon).
Universal had zero faith in Dracula Untold
All points were set. But then Universal decided against Dracula Untold as Starting shot of the Dark Universe. Instead, the studio pinned its hopes on Tom Cruise-led The Mummy, which ignored all the prep work of its now-defunct predecessor and did its own thing.
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In the end, however, neither of the two potential franchise starters made it to lay a stable foundation, on which a cinematic universe can be reached. The Dark Universe thus remains a film that was never allowed to be a part and a film that was a part but failed completely to create curiosity about further history.
After this double failure Universal gave up on the idea of forcibly uniting its monsters into one grand narrative. Planned projects with Johnny Depp and Javier Bardem were put on hold and the horror forge Blumhouse received the keys to the Universal archive. The first result of the change of course: The Invisible Man and Elisabeth Moss, a very exciting horror film.
a notice: We published this article in a similar form in January 2022.
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Would you have liked to see Dracula Untold 2 with Luke Evans?