DaveyJoe

This franchise would be much more intriguing as period pieces.

Jon2

Just what is this "shared universe" behind all the stories.

From the Mummy trailer, it appears Crowe's character is a part (leader?) of some secret, behind-the-scenes organization that deals with supernatural events. Might he and his organization be a major part of that "shared universe" background?

If so, I'm wondering what that means for Crowe playing Jekyll/Hyde?

E Unit

I'm more worried this will end up like a multiple movie version of League of Extraordinary Gentleman.

Ky-Fi

I love the Universal horror movies, and the idea of bringing them into an updated shared universe sounds great. However, Marvel succeeded by making a bunch of above-average movies that satisfied most longtime fans of the characters AND brought in new fans. That's the real trick, and I don't think it's that easy.

Troy Stiffler

According to The Mummy featurette, yes. Jekyll/Hyde and his company is like Nick Fury and SHIELD.

nando820

hmmm i dunno how i feel about this universe. I thought the old Universal movies didn't have crossovers. It feels a bit like they forcing it

stingermck

nando820

I stand corrected!

d2cheer

What do you mean if???

I see this announcement as a last ditch effort to drum up some business on the Mummy which is not tracking very well at all. Overseas $$ may help them but in the USA market these will be a tougher sell. Good thing Universal makes a Billion out of the Fast Franchise.

jacob_b

What is it tracking?

rbrown498

I'm very, very leery of this whole "Dark Universe" idea.

Van Helsing killed any ideas that I might have had of Universal doing this correctly.

I'd love to be proven wrong, however.

d2cheer

Around 40-45 mill opening. This is down from a few weeks ago that had it up near 50+. Going in the wrong direction.

bluetoast

Was was it known prior to this that Russel Crowe's character was Dr. Jeckyl? Or did people just assume he was some random ass exposition dude for Tom Cruise?

DWilson

They didn't point it out in the original trailers but it had been mentioned in previous material regarding the film.

Giantrobo

I didn't know til recently.

I had thought he was playing some short but important role in the new film; but recently they released a trailer that showed who he was and his organization's role in the Mummy film and perhaps the new "Dark Universe". It was pretty cool because i LOVE connected stuff like that.

fumanstan

I remember knowing Crowe was Jeckyll for some time, I'm not sure where I originally read it though. They haven't really been hiding it even if it wasn't mentioned in the trailers before.

I hope the Mummy does well, I think it looks pretty good and would like to see more monsters. Maybe it's just me, but i'm glad they're not period pieces. I like seeing them in modern times.

Thrush

I think that projection is very optimistic. Trailers have looked meh and Cruise has had only one movie in the past 10 years that made over 40mill during opening weekend. My guess would be it opens at mid to high 20's.

OldBoy

I just hope De Niro's Creature makes an appearance at some point!

E Unit

Maybe in Phase 2. Wouldn't surprise me if they took the route and did these movies in phases.

DRG

I can't wait until they get to the point where the monsters meet Abbott & Costello (Jason Segel and Jonah Hill).

Josh-da-man

That might be cool, though I'd swap out Jonah Hill for Jack Black.

Mike86

Agreed. The Mummy set in 2017 just doesn't feel that interesting to me. I feel like there shouldn't be modern technology in a film like that. I mentioned in the main thread but even if they didn't want to go back to the 30s or whenever and would have set it in the 70s or 80s I think it would feel more interesting.

Another thing, is there a reason Dracula Untold isn't part of this universe? I'm assuming because it didn't do the best at the box office but it's actually not a bad film really.

TheMovieman

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hea...flicks-1008839

The article has more on this proposed universe, including "so-so" tracking for The Mummy.

Josh-da-man

When this underperforms and Uni scuttles the "Dark Universe" (or whatever they end up calling it), there's going to be a Mummy movie that just randomly has Dr. Jekyl in it.

Artman

Still think "Universal Monsters" would've worked better...I guess they could still change it after The Mummy's theatrical release. Really pulling for this one to work!