2. Alex Kurtzman And Chris Morgan To Develop Universal Monsters Franchise
When he's not working on the Spider-Man franchise, Alex Kurtzman will have his hands busy with another cinematic universe. This one, however, is not based on any superheroes, but instead on Universal's extensive category of classic monsters, which includes Frankenstein, Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Invisible Man, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolfman, and the Mummy, among others. Kurtzman isn't approaching the endeavor alone, and will team up with Fast and the Furious writer/producer Chris Morgan. Their plan is to create a comprehensive, shared continuity between films, which will begin with the upcoming reboot of The Mummy slated for 2016 (meaning Universal's upcoming and terrible looking film Dracula Untold will not be included). When asked about his plans by Collider, Kurtzman said:
Front and center right now is Chris Morgan and I working on getting The Mummy off the ground and building up our Monster Universe. Thats where Im spending my time I think its incredibly important to all of us to start focusing on each movie, and make each movie great, rather than thinking, Okay, we want to do The Avengers next. If that comes along, it will come along organically. When I was a kid, going to Universal Studios, which was all I wanted to do, all the time, there was a show that was all the monsters, and I loved that show. I was obsessed with Dracula. I was obsessed with Frankenstein. I was obsessed with the Wolfman. This guy used to get stretched on a rack, live and in front of the audience. It was so cool. Its very exciting. Its like being a kid in a candy store, getting to play with all those things again, at the very studio that birthed these monsters, in the first place. Most importantly, were really wanting to just do each one right. I think the world will come to us, if we build them correctly. Some monsters will get their own movie. Other monsters will appear in other movies, as secondary characters. The balance of that is what were working on right now.
James is a 24 year old writer and filmmaker living in Portland, OR. He attended college for graphic design and writes for various sources on the web about film, television, and entertainment.
You can view all of his work on his website, www.thereeljames.wordpress.com
