I'm sure you've all seen the trailer for the The Mummy movie, starring Tom Cruise, and some of you know that this is the first in a series of films that will form a Marvel-style universe, involving Universal's legendary monsters.
I feel like I should be cynical about this project, and I'm not entirely won over by the trailer for The Mummy, nor am I a fan of Tom Cruise - but I'm actually looking forward to seeing classic movie monsters brought to life again and coming together - so long as it's more The Monster Squad than Van Helsing.
So Aside from Mr. Cruise and Sofia Boutella as the titular Mummy, we'll see Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde, Johnny Depp as The Invisible Man, and Javier Bardem as Baron Frankenstein.
(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j41/zygon1971/FIN01_DarkUniverse_GroupShot_4MB-3_zps63gp1l30.jpg)
There's a bit about The Mummy, including the trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Sp2MozCiI
And there's a lovely montage of clips from the original films that signals the coming "rebirth":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCm2PX5Iz00
As I said above, this could turn out to be pants and a case of bandwagon-jumping, but I do hope it actually turns out to be really good...
Nobody ever pronounces Jekyll properly these days.
Quote from: M.I.K. on 25 May, 2017, 12:07:17 AM
Nobody ever pronounces Jekyll properly these days.
Or spell it properly, as in my case...
I hate to be a pessimist (not really, it's who I am) but I don't have much faith in Universal as a studio.
A company whose recent production credits include The Fate Of The Furious, Fifty Shades Darker, Ouija : Origin Of Evil, The Purge : Election Year and Ride Along 2.... oh and Bridget Jones's Baby
I can see studio involvement being a huge factor which won't be good news for fans of the classic monster movies. And that Alex Kurtzman only has one previous directing credit, People Like Us
Prove me wrong Universal, prove me wrong.
At the risk of sounding pessimistic too, I think you may be proven right...
I'm curious as to how an unreleased film has an 8.5 on IMDB though.
I would reserve judgment on Universal until I see the Woody Woodpecker movie(if its released outside Brazil).
But seriously now,I have to ask;Tom,whats you beef with the Fast and Furious franchise?Granted,its kinda stupid,but thats the point.
The trailer for The Mummy looked very reminiscent of the 1999 film...
Haven't they tried this before with Benicio's Wolf Man and Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing?
I think there's mileage in the idea but they need some decent scripts.
Quote from: Smith on 25 May, 2017, 05:52:43 AM
Tom,whats you beef with the Fast and Furious franchise?Granted,its kinda stupid,but thats the point.
Where to begin.
-Where are the actors? Aren't films supposed to have actors? The Rock, Vin Diesel et al. are not actors. An actor is someone who can act. A turd in a toilet bowl does a better job of acting than anyone in these 'films'
-Physics. It's set in the real world. Not cartoon land. Yet almost every stunt defies physics. Just like the magic fire, bulletproof cars (a particular thing that annoyed me in the latest film was a grappling hook was fired through the Lamborghini's door, moment's later the baddies are firing machine guns and the character is using the same door as a shield. Yet it was already shown not to be bulletproof moments ago!), gravity that seems to turn itself off when required...the list goes on
-Story. To be fair it's wonderful to see Hollywood giving work to 5 year old screenwriters
There is way more but if I keep going I'm going to reach the world limit and no one will read it anyway
BUT
The thing that annoys me the most about it is that it's keeping better films from being made. And I can say that because it would be pretty much impossible to make something worse (unless Uwe Boll is involved but that's another post entirely).
rant over. bet ya wish you never asked :P
Well,I see your point and like I said,it is stupid,but that's the point.IMO,its a fun kinda stupid,a guilty pleasure if you will.Brainless,harmless fun.
Anyhow,on the topic,Im not all that optimistic.Seems like another rushed jump on the Shared Cinematic Universe bandwagon.But I hope Im wrong.
I've seen one Fast/Furious film (I had a cineworld pass and was living in a city where I hardly knew anyone so was seeing every film that came out). Within the first five minutes the protagonist had caused a car crash that injured three people. This was the hero of the piece. You only have to walk around on a Friday or Saturday night to see people speeding along public roads, ignoring red lights and otherwise taking their cues from films like this. I wouldn't often say that bad behaviour is caused by rock'n'roll music/horror comics/roleplaying games/computer games/whatever, but in this case I think it's both normalising and glamourising not just bad, but actively dangerous driving.
To be fair here,some people are just idiots like that;there is no proof that a movie influenced them.
How to update old Film Characters on your books that aren't earning much money? You rework them for a contemporary setting as period Films are more expensive to make and don't attract the twentysomethings demographics all advertiser love. So put them in a modern context, hire some well-known Film faces to play updated version of the classic Characters and there's your Monster Universe to go. Hope it works out for them.
I saw the trailer for The Mummy and it didn't appeal, to be honest. I think I'll miss the B-movie charm and humour of Brendan Fraser.
Quote from: CalHab on 25 May, 2017, 01:40:24 PM
I saw the trailer for The Mummy and it didn't appeal, to be honest. I think I'll miss the B-movie charm and humour of Brendan Fraser.
I think we will all miss that. :(
Quote from: Smith on 25 May, 2017, 02:29:18 PM
Quote from: CalHab on 25 May, 2017, 01:40:24 PM
I saw the trailer for The Mummy and it didn't appeal, to be honest. I think I'll miss the B-movie charm and humour of Brendan Fraser.
I think we will all miss that. :(
And Rachel Weisz.
Im just getting the feeling they are taking themselves a bit too seriously.
Digital Spy article that tells you what movies are planned, who's involved and when they're planning to release them...
http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/the-mummy/feature/a829209/universal-dark-universe-the-mummy-bride-of-frankenstein-the-invisible-man-trailer-release-date/
They made a good Dracula flick (Dracula Untold) but because that didn't get the number 1 spot or whatever and make quite as much money as they wanted they're now making the usual shit with actors like Tom Cruise and Depp.
I haven't got much hope for these.
And the 2010 Wolfman was pretty good too. I'd love to know who these twatty critics are who give decent movies a slating. Dracula Untold wasn't perfect but it was still a good film also.
So far the reviews for the Mummy seem to be...not all that great.Mostly the verdict is: meh.
I doubt very much there's an appetite for new entries in the Universal Monsters series.
The Hammer versions of the same characters were much better anyway. Let's have those back instead.
(I also liked Dracula Untold, though. More like that would be fine).
Trouble is Hollywood these days is full of pretty boys.
Cushing....Price....Lorre....Lee....now there are some actors that didn't need CG to scare you. I'm all for remaking classic horror films but you need to cast quality actors in the roles, not pretty boys.
Dead Universe:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/alex-kurtzman-chris-morgan-exit-universal-monsterverse-1055854?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%20Breaking%20News_2017-11-08%2006:00:00_ARahman&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_breakingnews (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/alex-kurtzman-chris-morgan-exit-universal-monsterverse-1055854?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%20Breaking%20News_2017-11-08%2006:00:00_ARahman&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_breakingnews)
QuoteEmblematic of Dark Universe's problems is the tony office building on the Universal lot that was revamped at considerable expense for the new venture. After being decked out in monster regalia, it now sits mostly empty.
Ouch.
2 thoughts on Kurtzman and Morgan hitting the road:
1 - Kurtzman and Morgan's track record is hit and miss, and their absence is just as likely to result in better individual films. Kurtzman especially has worked almost exclusively on "franchise" properties for the last decade.
2 - crossovers typically make more than the movie franchises that spawn the individual characters. Even if Universal decided to cash in with what they already had and just went and made a Dracula vs The Mummy movie, they could probably make decent bank.
Aw, and they never got to Abbot and Costello...
They fucked this up royally.
Almost every feature I read about the Tom Cruise Mummy called it a remake of the Brendan Fraser film, which it wasn't.
The Brendan Fraser franchise had been milked to the point that any film connected with it was almost guaranteed to be a turkey.
I think this is the third modern attempt to create a monster franchise. First was the Del Toro Wolf Man which bombed (but was actually okay), then there was Dracula Untold (which I really enjoyed but the studio seemed to have no faith in). Then this turd. It's time to shit or get off the pot. If they cancel this franchise they may as well put the 'monsters' idea to bed for good.
And I agree the Hammer films are much better. The Universal films are all short, simple with memorable designs and strong central performances though. That's something the modern producers would do well to remember.
I just can't get over the hubris and arrogance of thinking you can announce a whole slate of movies and assume that audience demand exists, when you have zero proven track record and zero audience goodwill generated. It's the absolute definition of putting the cart before the horse.
Make a good film that people like then build off that, not the other way round. It's not rocket science is it?