The order of Universal’s Monster franchise is still up in the air

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Although Universal's rebooted Monsters franchise will be kicking off in just several months with the release of THE MUMMY, the studio hasn't yet decided which project will be following it to the big-screen. Chris Morgan (THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS), who heads up the Universal Monsters writers' room along with Alex Kurtzman (STAR TREK), recently spoke with Collider and offered an update on the state of the new movies, which Morgan says are being designed as mostly standalone franchises.

We kind of designed them all to be kind of standalone sorts of franchises that have kind of similar things between them. And as the scripts came in, then we started putting them in a, ‘Well this would be a good order. We reveal this here’ so now it really comes down to, again, it’s a studio decision on which film is coming out next. Just with all the films we’re working on, Bride of Frankenstein, Van Helsing, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Wolfman, Invisible Man, and on and on and on, it’s a real embarrassment of riches in terms of awesome, fun characters. I always say it this way: I’m in my office right now and I’ve got a Werewolf head mounted on the wall. It’s pretty good to come into your office and—that’s what you’re working with, you’re working with monsters that are 80, almost 100 years old. There’s a real legacy, a real respect, the fact that this studio, I don’t think, would have lasted if it wasn’t for the monsters, it really built up.

We've got more than enough Universal Monster movies on the way to keep us busy for a while, including THE WOLF MAN, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, VAN HELSING, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE INVISIBLE MAN and more. As a huge fan of the classic Universal Monster movies, I haven't entirely embraced this new reboot; the trailers for THE MUMMY didn't impress me as much as I was hoping, but I'm more than willing to give it a chance. When it was first announced that Universal would be giving their Monsters a modern spin, I was a little disappointed that we wouldn't be getting a lavish big-budget period monster flick, but Morgan told Collider that although the studio would prefer the franchise to be more contemporary, they haven't ruled out visiting other periods for future movies.

The studio is mostly interested in just doing good films. They would like them generally to be more contemporary I think, just to reflect a modern sensibility and a modern take on the monsters. The Mummy is one of the first modern day—for Universal anyway—Mummy films; all the others are period. But there are no rules, so if there is a great period version of these that’s just undeniable, then we’ll absolutely fight for that and go for it.

THE MUMMY is set for a June 9, 2017 release.