It was only four years ago when Universal Pictures announced the Dark Universe, a live-action reimagining of the studio’s beloved Monsters franchise. Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe before it, the Dark Universe was set to feature A-list Hollywood talent in an interconnected universe that’d feature crossovers and team-ups.
Videos by ComicBook.com
At least, that was the plan at the time.
Witness the beginning of a #DarkUniverse. pic.twitter.com/8g9eIbQfGa
— #DarkUniverse (@darkuniverse) May 22, 2017
Tom Cruise’s The Mummy ended up bombing critically and commercially, reportedly losing Universal upwards of $95 million. Like any studio would, plans for the Dark Universe were quickly scrapped and the studio quickly pivoted its strategy toward separate, standalone horror flicks featuring the same properties. That seemed to work, with movies like Elizabeth Moss’ The Invisible Man raking in $142M worldwide against a reported production budget of just $7M.
Nonetheless, fans are remembering what could have been on the fourth anniversary of Universal’s initial Dark Universe announcement. Keep scrolling to see what everyone is saying!
Constant Greatness
Oh, boy! It’s been 4 years of nothing but great Dark Universe movies!
— Sister Corv™ (@CorvynH) May 22, 2021
Wait a second… https://t.co/7PfJp92VMu
josh knows
My alternate universe/Dark Universe Rankings:
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) May 22, 2021
1. The Invisible Man
2. Bride of Frankenstein
3. The Mummy
4. Van Helsing
5. Fast 8: Dom vs. The Mummy
6. Boss Baby 3: FrankenFun
The Invisible Depp
Happy fourth anniversary to not just Dark Universe, but the decision to cast the very expensive Johnny Depp as an invisible character https://t.co/haAIsbkszC
— BDG Union Member Eric Francisco (@EricFrancisco24) May 22, 2021
Miss You Every Day
dark universe we miss you https://t.co/bFxmFHzB9F
— Ellie 🦇🎂 (@baticeer) May 22, 2021
Ultimate Crossover
The dark universe took a harder beating than Mark during all of his fights #Invincible https://t.co/FrISgwJ8Dk pic.twitter.com/LKZWA1MBvG
— Society of Weird Images. (@WorldOfRandom5) May 22, 2021
Dr. Jekyll
happy dark universe everyone i hope you left cookies out for russell crowe’s dr. jekyll https://t.co/ZBROu2rlC0
— ali “lesbian seth cohen” richman (@alirichthem) May 22, 2021
Help Us Obi-Wan
The Dark Universe… https://t.co/KNDinu2HA0 pic.twitter.com/f5VULKkDz7
— Erik Swann (@SwannErik) May 22, 2021
*****
The Mummy (2017) is streaming on fuboTV.
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Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures -
Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures
