The Mummy was supposed to be the launching pad for Universal’s Dark Universe, a inter-connected world that brought together the classic Monsters from the studio’s history. However a trashing by the press [read our reviews here and here, although Luke Owen loved it on the Flickering Myth Podcast] and a tepid domestic opening of $32 million (it did fare much better overseas) has cast some doubt over the proposed cinematic universe.
In May, Universal released an image of their Dark Universe featuring Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella (Ahmanet), Russell Crowe (Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde), Javier Bardem (Frankenstein’s Monster) and Johnny Depp (The Invisible Man) and reports suggest the studio still wants Angelina Jolie to play The Bride of Frankenstein in the 2019 movie directed by Bill Condon (Beauty and the Beast), and previous reports say they want Scarlett Johansson for Creature From the Black Lagoon and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for The Wolf Man. But those actors require big paycheques – and that could be Universal’s downfall.
In a new report from Variety, it’s noted that Tom Cruise holds a lot of power in studios thanks to the rise of “the Hollywood star” in the 90s and 00s. Studios wanted names like Cruise on posters as they would drive up ticket sales, and as such the actors could demand certain perks like script approval, box office participation and creative control. But the dominance of comic book movies over the last decade mean characters hold more weight than the actors, and those demands that seemed reasonable ten years ago are now a burden.
According to Variety, when Cruise signed on for The Mummy he was given complete control of the project; including sign-off on script, director, post-production and marketing. From that Cruise “run amok” and turned The Mummy from a horror popcorn summer movie to a “Tom Cruise vehicle”. The original version of the movie, according to Variety’s sources, saw Cruise’s Nick Morton and Ahmanet share the same amount of screentime, but re-writes commissioned by the leading star changed this. Cruise brought in Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman to revamp the script, which included the plot thread of Morton getting possessed, the appearance of Dr. Jekyll, and described Morton as a “young man”. In total, The Mummy has six credited writers. Variety’s insiders tell them that Universal weren’t thrilled with the changes, but went along with Cruise’s vision.
Cruise also directed a lot of the movie according to those close to the production, which made sense given director Alex Kurtzman’s lack of experience on tentpole films. This also bled into post-production, where Cruise brought in his own editor to re-work the film originally cut by Gina and Paul Hirsch. The site says, to Cruise’s credit, that the re-edit was needed as the original cut wasn’t working; but there are questions whether Cruise’s alterations actually helped the final product.
In an effort to help boost the low tracking numbers for the movie, Universal arranged to release the aforementioned Dark Universe photo to boost interest. However they couldn’t get everyone in the same place at the same time, and Variety revealed that most of the actors did individual shoots and where then Photoshopped together. They didn’t get the reaction they wanted, and it didn’t help boost the box office tracking.
It will be interesting to see where The Dark Universe heads next. A few weeks ago it was reported that DC and Warner Bros. could take Universal to court over the name – which DC use for their Justice League Dark series – and with that movie adaptation possibly going into production before the year is out the legal battle could become a reality. Outside of The Bride of Frankenstein – which doesn’t have a leading star yet – no other dates have been set for The Dark Universe. The Bride of Frankenstein isn’t set for release until 2019, though the report suggests The Mummy‘s $190 million production budget (and $100 million marketing costs) won’t make back its money even with a strong international opening.
