Two years ago, it was revealed that Universal was eager to take their slate of classic monster movies and revive them into their own shared cinematic universe, and producers Alex Kurtzman (Transformers) and Chris Morgan (Fast & Furious) officially began developing the Universal Monsters Universe last year. Speaking with Variety, Morgan and Kurtzman opened up about their intentions with the films and how they’re currently working on establishing it.
“This is not a heightened world,” Morgan says. “We’re exploring issues of family identity and questions of, ‘Where do I belong in the world?’ ”
“We’re creating a mythology, so we’re looking at this canon and thinking, ‘What are the rules?’ ” Kurtzman added. “What can we break and what are the ones that are untouchable? The idea is that we have a deep bench of brains to consult with about how their monster fits into our world as we go forward.”
“The characters will interact with each other across movies,” says Donna Langley, chair of Universal Pictures. “We’re incubating it at the moment, and we’re taking the time to get it right.”
The outlet notes that in addition to several writers already working on scripts, designers and storyboard artists are also working on the overall look for the films. Universal is currently planning on releasing one of the monster movies a year with potential films focusing on Dracula, Van Helsing, Bride of Frankenstein and the Wolfman.
The first film in the shared monster universe that fans will get to see is The Mummy, which Kurtzman will direct from a script by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus). The Mummy reboot is set for release on March 24, 2017, with another Untitled Universal Monster Movie set to follow it on March 30, 2018. “Fargo” executive producer Noah Hawley is currently writing one of the films in the series, with Prisoners scribe Aaron Guzikowski penning the reboot of The Wolfman.
