Universal’s last two attempts at rebooting their classic monsters for modern audiences didn’t go too well, with Dracula Untold quickly getting swept under the rug like it never even happened, while the critical and commercial reactions to The Mummy killed the proposed Dark Universe at the first hurdle, with even the studio’s head honcho admitting that the experiment was a failure.
The latest approach is to tackle their roster of iconic characters in smaller, more filmmaker-driven projects, which already seems to be reaping rewards as The Invisible Man is being tipped to top the box office this weekend in the wake of hugely positive reviews. Turning the Universal Monsters into the stars of big-budget action blockbusters led by A-list talent always seemed like a strange creative direction to take, and a knee-jerk reaction to the unprecedented success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The focus now seems to be on finding actors and filmmakers that can elevate the material, with Elisabeth Moss receiving rave reviews for her performance in The Invisible Man, along with rumors linking John Krasinski to The Bride of Frankenstein and reports that Benedict Cumberbatch is being sought to play Dracula in the upcoming Renfield spinoff.
Last week, we told you that Universal were eying Ryan Gosling to headline one of their in-development monster movies, and now we’ve received an update. According to our sources – the same ones who said a new Scream film is in the works and that National Treasure 3 is happening, both of which have since been confirmed – the studio wants him for their latest version of The Mummy. Apparently, they’re hoping to have the 39 year-old star in a remake that leans closer to Brendan Fraser’s 1999 fan-favorite than the 1932 Boris Karloff classic. That being said, it’ll still introduce some new elements to help set it apart.
Of course, the last time we got an action-orientated Mummy flick, the Dark Universe imploded on itself, but Universal’s latest retooling of their iconic properties should be given the benefit of the doubt for now. It would make sense for the studio to do a period-set reboot in order to avoid comparisons to the recent Tom Cruise-driven disaster, but Stephen Sommers’ old-school pulp adventure has retained its cult favorite status for over 20 years. Even with an actor of Ryan Gosling’s caliber front and center though, there will need to be a solid story at the core of the latest attempt at rebooting The Mummy or else the project could end up coming off as a lazy rehash of what’s already worked before.
