Universal Launches Marvel-Like Shared “Dark Universe” of Films

It has long been rumored that Universal Pictures had big plans for its classic monster characters and a recent press release has finally revealed the studio’s grand scheme: a Marvel Universe-style shared universe that allows crossovers between, for example, Frankenstein’s Monster and Mr. Hyde, complete with a Marvel-style motion logo set to a Danny Elfman theme that will precede the first release, The Mummy, opening next month.

The Mummy director and producer Alex Kurtzman and producer Chris Morgan are the “core creatives” behind the “Dark Universe” and they said that they immediately “recognized the responsibility of respecting” the “legacy” of the classics, while updating them for modern audiences.

The studio and our fellow creative collaborators have championed and challenged us as we’ve begun to spin the web of Dark Universe. It’s our hope these movies will engross longtime fans and spark the imaginations of brand-new ones.

The release also revealed that the follow-up to The Mummy will be Bride of Frankenstein, to be directed by Academy Award-winner Bill Condon. Described as “the story of a very modern woman in a very classic tale,” Bride of Frankenstein will star Sofia Boutella in the title role.

Joining Boutella as the Bride and Tom Cruise as Nick Morton in Dark Universe are Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man and Javier Bardem as Frankenstein’s Monster. The Dark Universe is held together by a “mysterious multi-national organization” called Prodigium.

Led by the enigmatic and brilliant Dr. Henry Jekyll, Prodigium’s mission is to track, study and — when necessary — destroy evil embodied in the form of monsters in our world. Working outside the aegis of any government, and with practices concealed by millennia of secrecy, Prodigium protects the public from knowledge of the evil that exists just beyond the thin membrane of civilized society…and will go to any length to contain it.