10 Cinematic Universes That Failed To Happen

And finally, the most embarrassing attempt yet. The Dark Universe may have had a false start with Dracula Untold, but that wasn’t going to stop Universal from pursuing their dream of a shared universe with the classic monsters. The studio this time chose The Mummy as the franchise to kick this universe all off. They quickly scooped up Tom Cruise for the lead role and Transformers screenwriter Alex Kurtzman for the directors chair.

Russel Crow even stars as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, this franchises very own Nick Fury. What could go wrong?

Well, everything it seems. The Mummy rocketed into theatres where it was met with incredibly hostile critical reception and box office returns that couldn’t pull the weight of its massive production budget. The movie was decried as boring and dull, lacking any of the fun that the 1999 film had, while also being bereft of the horror present in the original.

After The Mummy tanked, the whole Dark Universe was put on hold. It became clear that Universal had been rather presumptuous in believing The Mummy would succeed. They had already released cast photos of all the stars for the next few films, and even had a Dark Universe logo appear before The Mummy. Now that the CEO has admitted it was a failure and everyone else has moved onto other projects, it all seems rather embarrassing. Better luck next time?