Dark Universe Writer Recalls Flopped Monster Movie Series Issues: "What Are We Doing Here?"

Dark Universe was one of the biggest movie failures of recent years. It was Universal's much-hyped series of interconnected monster movies that collapsed after the release of one film, the Tom Cruise-starring 2017 flop The Mummy. Now Eric Heisserer, one of the writers involved, has spoken about why it failed.

Speaking to The Playlist, Heisserer explained that there was very little agreement amongst the various writers that had been assembled to develop future Dark Universe films. "It was a very strange experience," he said. "There was certainly a big brain trust of writers around the table. You had a lot of voices and none of them could agree on much. Much like when I'd visit my relatives for Thanksgiving and everyone's arguing with each other.

"You had some people saying, 'Should our monsters all be villains in these movies or can they all be heroes?' And someone else would say, 'We can build the plane when we fly it.' And it's me and Jon Spaihts at the table going, 'That's a terrible analogy. We don't want to be on that plane. What are we doing here?'"

The movie that Heisserer and Spaihts were developing was based on legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing. But Heisserer admits that they had a "terrible motivation" for choosing it. "We were also like, 'You know? I don't think some of these movies are going to work at all," he said. "So what if we create the character that kills the monsters in the movies that don't work?"

Dark Universe officially launched in May 2017, shortly before the release of The Mummy. Other movies being developed included The Bride of Frankenstein with Angelina Jolie and The Invisible Man with Johnny Depp, but the commercial disappointment of The Mummy led to future films being delayed, then cancelled, and the whole venture was ultimately abandoned. Luckily, we still have this legendary tweet to remind us of the sorry saga.

Nevertheless, Universal is still planning a series of movies based on its monster properties. Last year's The Invisible Man was a big commercial success, and other films currently in development include The Invisible Woman, to be directed by Elizabeth Banks, The Wolfman, starring Ryan Gosling, and a movie based on Dracula's servant Renfield.