Jason Blum would love to resurrect Universal’s Dark Universe

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Gather round, boys and girls, and let me tell you the tale of the Dark Universe. ‘Twas a time when Universal Pictures thought it wise to kick-start a shared universe of monster movies akin to the Marvel Universe. Sadly those plans went down faster than Dracula next to garlic after the release of the dreadful THE MUMMY. Now the franchise seems deader than its characters, but one of the top producers today – Blumhouse’s Jason Blum (GET OUT, SPLIT) – seems very into the idea of taking the reins and ressurecting the franchise from its tomb.

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Blum recently took to Twitter to hold an “Ask Me Anything” session, and of course, fans wanted to ask the producer of some of the biggest horror movies of the decade about all things horror. One person asked if he would be interested in taking over the handling of Universal’s Dark Universe, to which Blum had a very blunt, excited response.

The idea of him taking over isn’t too far-fetched. He currently does a lot of business with Universal, as Blumhouse releases movies with them, along with having a first-look deal. Plus, right now plans for the DU seem to be at a standstill. Both Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, the men in charge of spearheading the franchise, have bowed out, and not much has come from the planned movies starring the likes of Tom Cruise, Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Russell Crowe, Angelina Jolie and more.

When it comes to rebooting classic movie monsters Blum wants to bring more than the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein into his fold. He’s currently producing the reboot/sequel of HALLOWEEN (out October 19) and has apparently tried to get the rights to other franchises like Friday the 13th and The Crow.

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The main folly of Universal’s approach to their DU was trying too hard to mimic Marvel and treat what should be horror movies like major blockbusters. They were even going to have Crowe’s Dr. Jekyll act as a sort of Nick Fury character, assemling this group of creatures. Seriously, was that ever going to work? What people love about the classic movie monsters is the gothic atmosphere and genuine scares, not Luke Evans as Dracula fighting a whole army or Cruise transforming into, I don’t know, whatever he transformed into. Blum is very smart and knows how to do horror right, and though he probably hasn’t spoken to Universal about the DU, I would be very into him putting everything back on course.

You can catch HALLOWEEN on October 19.