User:Ichthyovenator/Dark Universe

The Dark Universe was a planned media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of monster films, produced by Universal Pictures as a reboot of the Universal Monsters shared universe of films, released in the early to mid 20th century.

https://screenrant.com/search/The%20Mummy/9/

Background and early development
The Dark Universe was conceived to serve as a reboot of the Universal Monsters series, a shared universe of monster films released by Universal Pictures from the 1920s to 1950s. Universal's original line of monster films had begun with silent films, such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925), and grew to include several classics, such as Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Wolf Man (1941), and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).

Universal produced several reboots for some of their original monster franchises in the late 1990s and 2000s, but they were met with mixed response. Whereas The Mummy (1999) was successful and spawned sequels, others, such as Van Helsing (2004) and The Wolfman (2010) were met with negative reviews. In the early 2010s, Universal hired the writer/producer duo Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who had worked together on the TV series Sleepy Hollow (2013–2017) and on the The Amazing Spider-Man film series (2012–2014) to seek out promising writers and directors and produce fresh spins on some of the monster stories owned by Universal. In an article published in October 2013, Sancy Schaeffer, writing for Screen Rant, compared their role to that of producer Kevin Feige in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and speculated that Universal was intending to produce its own cinematic universe of monster films, beginning with reboots of The Mummy and Van Helsing that were being produced by Kurtzman and Orci. In an interview, Orci also expressed interest in producing a Frankenstein film.

By July 2014, Orci and Kurtzman had parted ways, but Kurtzman was joined by Chris Morgan, known for writing and producing films in the Fast & Furious franchise, and the development of a shared universe of Universal monster films was officially announced. Kurtzman and Morgan were announced to serve as joint architects of this new, as of then unnamed, cinematic universe. Though Universal had a film about Dracula releasing later that year, Dracula Untold, it was announced that the planned reboot of The Mummy (then scheduled for a release 24 June 2016) was to serve as the first film in the shared universe. Kurtzman and Morgan were also set to re-assess some projects Universal currently had in development, such as a reboot of The Invisible Man headed by filmmaker David S. Goyer. An untitled monster film part of the shared universe was also announced for a 21 April 2017 release date. Despite previous comments that it would be unconnected, Dracula Untold was announced to be connected to the shared universe on 2 October 2014, shortly before its release, with reshoots having been done under the supervision of Kurtzman and Morgan to better connect the film to future projects.

In November 2014, screenwriter Ed Solomon joined the "writer collective" for the shared universe. After being reported as being eyed as the writer for a reboot of The Wolf Man, Aaron Guzikowski also joined the team of writers in November, alongside Noah Hawley and Jay Basu. Further details on the plans to create a shared universe were revealed in 2015, with confirmations that movies Dracula, Van Helsing, The Bride of Frankenstein and The Wolf Man were in development, and that the intention was to release a new monster film every year following the release of The Mummy. It was announced that where to mix iconic elements, such as the bolts in the neck of Frankenstein's monster, with contemporary themes and a modern setting.

WIP
The Dark Universe was announced 22 May 2017 - this source is the original announcement

https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a829209/universal-dark-universe-the-mummy-bride-of-frankenstein-the-invisible-man-trailer-release-date/

https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a842616/the-dark-universe-dead-alex-kurtzman-chris-morgan-the-mummy/

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2548140/dark-universe-holdover-bride-of-frankenstein-has-found-new-life-at-universal

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2490539/you-think-universal-exec-admits-the-dark-universe-was-a-failed-experiment

https://collider.com/bride-of-frankenstein-update-david-koepp-universal-dark-universe/

https://screenrant.com/bride-frankenstein-dark-universe-reboot-development-script-update/

Bride of Frankenstein
The development of Bride of Frankenstein was announced on 13 November 2014.

There were widely circulated rumors that Angelina Jolie was intended to play the titular monster.

The Invisible Man
The development of a Invisible Man film set within the Dark Universe was announced on 13 November 2014.

The Wolf Man
On 12 November 2014, Deadline reported that Universal was actively developing a reboot of The Wolf Man, set in their shared universe of monster films. Aaron Guzikowski was reportedly being eyed by Universal to write the film.

Van Helsing
The development of a Van Helsing film set within the Dark Universe was announced on 13 November 2014. On November 11 the following year, it was announced that the film would be written by Jon Spaihts and Eric Heisserer, and produced by Kurtzman and Morgan.

Frankenstein
In a 4 June 2017 interview with Fandom, Kurtzman stated that Frankenstein was one of the films "we know we're going to do". - announced earlier

Creature from the Black Lagoon
In a 4 June 2017 interview with Fandom, Kurtzman stated that Creature from the Black Lagoon was one of the films "we know we're going to do". - announced earlier

Dracula
In a 4 June 2017 interview with Fandom, Kurtzman stated that Dracula was one of the films "we know we're going to do". - announced earlier

Phantom of the Opera
In a 4 June 2017 interview with Fandom, Kurtzman stated that Phantom of the Opera was one of the films "we know we're going to do".

Hunchback of Notre Dame
In a 4 June 2017 interview with Fandom, Kurtzman stated that Hunchback of Notre Dame was one of the films "we know we're going to do".

Other films
In a 4 June 2017 interview with Fandom, Kurtzman stated that besides making movies about already existing monsters owned by Universal, the Dark Universe could expand with films and spin-offs based on original characters introduced in the Dark Universe, such as Tom Cruise's character Nick Morton and Russell Crowe's Dr. Jekyll.