If movies have taught us one thing about monsters, it’s that they can never truly be defeated—even by a disinterested audience. That same rule apparently even applies to Universal’s Dark Universe, which was supposedly killed off back in November when the disappointing returns of The Mummy drove architects Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan to leave their fledgling cinematic universe before it could really even get one clawed foot off of the ground. Their departure seemed to indicate that we’d never see the planned reboots of The Bride Of Frankenstein (set to star Angelina Jolie until she backed out) and The Invisible Man (starring Johnny Depp, who probably should be more invisible anyway), but a new development suggests that the Dark Universe might not be as dead as it appeared.
According to a report from Omega Underground (via Screen Rant), Universal has begun putting together a production team for The Bride Of Frankenstein to prepare for filming. The story doesn’t cite specific sources, so this could mean nothing, but if it’s true then it means Universal is hoping to make the movie happen at some point. As far as anyone knows, Beauty And The Beast director Bill Condon is still attached to direct, but nobody is on board yet to play the eponymous monster wife. Gal Gadot was reportedly Condon’s second choice after Jolie, but she’s going to be tied up with the DC superhero movies for a while now.
Also, if this news is legitimate, we still don’t know if it indicates that the Dark Universe itself will someday bounce back. Universal could easily make Bride Of Frankenstein without connecting it to The Mummy in some way, but is it even worth the trouble to make a movie that won’t eventually result in an Avengers-style team-up movie?