Hold on, it looks like Paul Feig really is resurrecting Universal's Dark Universe
Back in September, we reported that Paul Feig was planning to write and direct a movie for Universal called Dark Army that would be somehow connected to the studio’s collection of classic movie monsters. In other words, it was the same basic setup (and a similar name) as the Dark Universe, the studio’s attempt to make a competitor to the MCU with a series of films about mummies and wolf men and Draculas. The plan for the Dark Universe was a big flop, as we’ve discussed extensively here at The A.V. Club, so it was a bit surprising to hear that Feig was planning to put his own spin on the whole thing with whatever Dark Army is going to be. Perhaps we misunderstood and were overemphasizing the project’s similarities to the Dark Universe? Yeah, that’s probably it.
Actually, no. That’s not it. Speaking with Coming Soon, Feig offered some new details on Dark Army, and he literally said the words “Dark Universe.” Wolf Man have mercy on our souls. Specifically, Feig said that he had just finished a first draft of the Dark Army script and “turned it into the Dark Universe people,” and from there it’ll go “over to the heads of Universal” where they’ll decide how they want to proceed. So apparently there are “Dark Universe people” at Universal still, which we would assume just means the people who are in charge of those monster brands and not necessarily a Kevin Feige-style cinematic universe mastermind.
Anyway, Feig also explained a little bit more about the movie, suggesting that it’s more of a proper horror story than the one Dark Universe film we got (Tom Cruise’s The Mummy). He specifically references Bride Of Frankenstein, saying it’s “probably one of the greatest movies of all time,” and there are “some things from that movie” that he’s using for Dark Army. Overall, he says it’ll be a “James Whale-ish, modern day version of a monster movie,” a la the classic Universal movies where the monsters are both scary and sympathetic, but with a “level of humor.”