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General => Movies and TV => Topic started by: Accelerando on May 22, 2017, 03:59:59 PM

Title: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Accelerando on May 22, 2017, 03:59:59 PM
There's an exciting new Cinematic Universe on it's way folks, and as of today, it officially has a title. Probably for those people who were complaining that a Mummy movie was made without Brendan Fraser.

(https://static.srcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Dark-Universe-Logo.jpg)

Universals Classic Monsters are coming back on the big screen, together again!

Dracula. The Wolfman. The Mummy. Frankenstein's Monster. The Invisible Man.  The Creature From The Black Lagoon.


Here is the official casting so far, and along with the announcement came a Cast photo

(https://media.popculture.com/2017/05/dark-universe-movies-cast-20001837.jpg)

Russell Crowe - Dr. Jekyll
Tom Cruise - Nick Morton
Sofia Boutella - The Mummy
Johnny Depp - The Invisible Man
Javier Bardem - Frankenstein's Monster


We have The Mummy this summer to kick things off, but another part of this announcement was Bride of Frankenstein with Bill Condon directing on script from David Koepp. That should be a 2019 release.

I expect more casting and movies news in the near future.

I would personally like to start a campaign for Tom Hardy as The Wolfman.


Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Kotowboy on May 22, 2017, 04:03:13 PM
Johnny Depp is perfect for the Invisible Man.


... because it is hard to see any point in casting him for anything anymore. Man is a flop machine.

Out of his last 12 or so movies - like 10 of those were box office flops.
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Accelerando on May 22, 2017, 04:06:57 PM
Johnny Depp is perfect for the Invisible Man.

... because it is hard to see any point in casting him for anything anymore. Man is a flop machine.



(https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/AQhkwj4lnfU/mqdefault.jpg)
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Kotowboy on May 22, 2017, 04:07:31 PM
:hat
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: gmillerdrake on May 22, 2017, 04:42:25 PM
Johnny Depp is perfect for the Invisible Man.


... because it is hard to see any point in casting him for anything anymore. Man is a flop machine.

Out of his last 12 or so movies - like 10 of those were box office flops.

True dat. Easily in the top 5 of overrated actors. He's had a couple good performances, BUT the way he's treated and adored you'd think the dude was Jack Nicholson talented.....and he's not.
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Kotowboy on May 22, 2017, 04:54:21 PM
And why does he do so many roles with an "English" accent ?

Bizarre.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?id=johnnydepp.htm

^ He hasn't had a hit movie as a lead actor since 2011. You could count Into The Woods but he's not the lead in that.
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Accelerando on June 08, 2017, 12:30:35 AM
Some critics are saying The Mummy is the worst Tom Cruise movie ever :omg: The reviews so far are worst than Dracula Untold, the film that was suppose to launch the Monsters Universe

Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Adami on June 08, 2017, 12:33:39 AM
The reviews I've seen have largely been "fine". Lots of action, really really really dumb plot and poor writing.

Which to me translates to the masses saying "movie was awesome, just shut off your brain and don't think about it"

I definitely won't be seeing this one in theaters.

Universal hired the worst guy to launch their universe.
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Grappler on June 08, 2017, 11:32:27 AM
Which to me translates to the masses saying "movie was awesome, just shut off your brain and don't think about it"

That's the way I understand it - everything I've read from the film's creators/directors/whoever have said that it takes its influence from the Brendan Fraser Mummy films...so it's more about action than horror, which is fine with me. 
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Adami on June 08, 2017, 11:34:23 AM
Well the Frasier movies also had a charm and levity to them. So simply "being action based" isn't an excuse for a bad movie.

There are amazing action movies. Dumb isn't necessary. But that just leads to my over all criticism of the whole "it's good if you shut off your brain and don't question any of it at all" mindset, but since I'm in the vast minority on that one, I won't make a deal of it.
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Accelerando on June 08, 2017, 03:02:53 PM
I'm with you Adami. When I watch something, I want to leave with something to think about, whether it's meant to be escapism or not.

I'm checking out the movie tonight because I love the Universal Monsters and i'm curious of how Universal plans on setting up this universe.
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Accelerando on June 08, 2017, 10:43:52 PM
Yeah...its just fine.

Although I'm not even sure if I even saw a Mummy movie. It was just a two hour end credit scene to set up Dark Universe. It could have been a cool Mummy flick if only there were only hints of the larger universe within the story, but the easter eggs took over the story. Imagine this as The Avengers without the previous films to build it up, and thats what you are getting with The Mummy.

The Universal Monsters nerd in me enjoyed those Easter Eggs, but the movie guy in me felt it was too much. Shand because Sofia Boutella's Mummy had an awesome backstory. What failed this film was Universal decided to jump the gun for its Monsters Universe instead of building it. The film also had no identity; it was trying to be a superhero film, or an adventure film, or a horror film. It couldn't decide. I hope they don't make this mistake with the upcoming Bride of Frankenstein and Invisible Man. There's potential!
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Kotowboy on June 09, 2017, 01:12:13 AM
I'm still confused to why Tom Cruise said yes to this.

money duh

But he gets paid the same for whatever movie he does. He normally picks better movies.

Ah well - he has a good track record with box office. He'll have to make a lot of poor decisions to end up as a flop machine like Depp.
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Polarbear on June 09, 2017, 04:28:18 AM
Why does everything have to be a "Cinematic Universe"? I mean obviously because marvel makes a shitload of money with MCU, but beyond that? Can't we have a good trilogy of movies anymore?
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: MirrorMask on June 09, 2017, 04:58:32 AM
Why does everything have to be a "Cinematic Universe"? I mean obviously because marvel makes a shitload of money with MCU, but beyond that?

You already answered yourself.
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Zook on June 10, 2017, 05:06:17 PM
So The Mummy suffers from Batman v Superman syndrome?
Title: Re: Universal's DARK UNIVERSE
Post by: Accelerando on June 12, 2017, 02:01:47 AM
Not really. The thing that stopped Dawn of Justice from being a good film was too many ideas that werent fleshed out and created a sloppy storytelling experience. Having introduced Wonder Woman in that film the way they did was actually brilliant. The Mummy started to have story until they got to Dr. Jekyll's monster fighting headquarters. Then it became "Look at us! We're gonna be a cinematic universe too" for basically the rest of the film.

I just started watching Penny Dreadful on Netflix (originally aired on Showtime), and that show introduced all these charcters like Dorian Gray and Dr Frankenstein in the six episodes i watched so far, and made me care for all of them more than I did for one character in The Mummy. It's called character developement.