Universal creating a monstrous universe of movies starting with Van Helsing

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

As you’re well aware by now, Universal is in the process of digging all of its old monsters out of the grave and reviving them. They’re currently in production on DRACULA UNTOLD, and new versions of THE MUMMY and VAN HELSING are in the planning stages. One of the key figures in this rebooting is Roberto Orci, who along with his writing partner Alex Kurtzman is overseeing THE MUMMY and VAN HELSING flicks; Orci had some interesting things to say about what they and the studio are mounting with these familiar characters.

Via IGN:

There’s an interesting thing that could happen at Universal where they have this amazing library of their old monsters and these kinds of heroes, and the idea of trying to think of creating a universe. Van Helsing, and we’re also producing The Mummy for them. We’re kind of imagining updating these kinds of things. You don’t want to just make remakes when you’re doing a thing, unless it’s worthy of being a remake, but when you have an idea for something that can actually be made different and yet be true to what it was. We just had a notion of how to make it modern and have a slightly different tone. It’s not going to be just a remake.”

What Orci is making clear, at least with the first portion of his statement, is that Universal is creating a cinematic universe revolving around their monsters not unlike the one Marvel has built for its superheroes. The real question remains: Is the general public going to be as excited for this monster mash as they are for the adventures of Iron Man and friends?

And for the record, Orci’s favorite creature is Frankenstein’s Monster – although he just calls him “Frankenstein,” which is kind of concerning.

Kate Beckinsale from the first VAN HELSING film