How Universal Plans to Re-Animate Its Monsters
A couple of years ago, it was announced that Universal wanted to return to its roots and reboot its classic monster movies into one shared universe. Alex Kurtzman, who produced Transformer movies, and Chris Morgan, producer of several of the Fast and Furious franchise, began developing the Universal universe for monsters.The producers feel that the public has been amply served with movies about superheroes, and would like to see movies about those who are less than perfect, and have a curse that needs to be turned into an empowerment.
Variety reports from interviews with the producers that the Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy and Van Helsing, along with other possible classic monsters, will interact with each other across movies.
This shared reality will be in a modern setting with contemporary values but have elements from the classic monster movies. They are creating a mythology that will honor existing canon, and are currently deciding which rules are sacrosanct and which can be altered.
Ten writers are working on the project and each of the ten writers will have a monster to oversee. Designers and storyboard artists are creating the visual impact and mood for the productions. The idea is that a movie will come out every year. The next one to come out will be the reboot of The Mummy, which was written by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) and will be directed by Alex Kurtzman. Filming should start in the spring of 2016 and its release date will be March 24, 2017.
