Support NeoGAF

[LordOfLore]

Link.

Universal Pictures is pressing pause on Bride of Frankenstein, the Bill Condon-directed remake of the 1935 horror classic. Pre-production had gotten underway in London for a February 1 production start, but the crew has just been told to go home for the time being. Javier Bardem has been in talks to play Frankenstein’s Monster, and Angelina Jolie has been in talks to play his reanimated, reluctant mate in the second film in Universal’s Dark Universe initiative to bring back its classic movie monsters. I’ve heard the film is going back to the lab to do some more work on the script and that is why they stopped the clock. It had been dated February 14, 2019.

The studio confirmed to Deadline that its execs and Condon have indeed pushed pause. I am told the actors aren’t walking away. In fact, they are not committing until this all gets rectified.

“After thoughtful consideration, Universal Pictures and director Bill Condon have decided to postpone Bride of Frankenstein,” Universal said in a statement to Deadline. “None of us want to move too quickly to meet a release date when we know this special movie needs more time to come together. Bill is a director whose enormous talent has been proven time and again, and we all look forward to continuing to work on this film together.”

Even though the studio carved out that release date long ago, it sounds like they are still trying to establish exactly what this film should be, with Bardem and Jolie waiting for more rewrites by David Koepp before committing. A little caution here seems well placed after the the film that launched Universal’s monster program, The Mummy, turned into a confusing pastiche of action scenes without a sense of authorship of what exactly it wanted to be. An action adventure in the vein of the Stephen Sommers Brendan Fraser-Rachel Weisz films, or a truly frightening film like the 1932 original was for its time? Even though it grossed $407 million worldwide, the scariest thing about The Mummy was its reviews. There are numerous filmmaker-driven monster movies that will follow, but the welfare of the franchise is contingent on getting the next one right.

Condon won his Oscar for writing Gods and Monsters, about the last days of Frankenstein director James Whale. He spent a lot of time considering that filmmaker and his work. Now that he’s recreating arguably Whale’s best film for today’s world with two intense stars like Bardem and Jolie, wouldn’t the best course of action be to make a terrifying, well-drawn and possibly R-rated tale, even if that isn’t the template for the usual global blockbuster? That is the direction I bet this is going.

 

[Toa TAK]

Guess you can say this production went..

*sunglasses*

dark.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

Maybe they're learning from 'The Mummy' and trying to soft reboot the tone of the 'Dark Universe' while also letting the films standalone more.

 

[Rvaan]

Guess you can say this production went..

*sunglasses*

dark.

 

[Fj0823]

Every single movie that forces a "universe" by having random characters show up and freeze the plot deserves to fail imho

 

[NealMcCauley]

The next first chapter of the Dark Universe.

 

[Ashodin]

I'm shocked the dark universe is stalling.
SHOCKED

 

[border]

Dark Universe dying a slow but inevitable death.

 

[Jigorath]

So this shit is over right?

 

[chrisPjelly]

Man, I stil can't believe they're making a Thor 2: The Dark World Cinematic Universe

 

[Dash_Riprock]

Maybe they're learning from 'The Mummy' and trying to soft reboot the tone of the 'Dark Universe' while also letting the films standalone more.

This will be what, the third time they've had to reboot this crap?

 

[Oersted]

Bets this is gonna be the re-restart the Dark Universe and pretend Mummy didn't happen and reintroduce Cruise later?

 

[StrawberryJam]

Man, I stil can't believe they're making a Thor 2: The Dark World Cinematic Universe

I can't believe it took this damn long.

 

[Gai Murakumo]

Guess you can say this production went..

*sunglasses*

dark.

.

 

[Toa TAK]

Remember when Dracula Untold was supposed to start this shit?

I wish it did.

EDIT: I see you, chrisPjelly, you son of a gun.

 

[StoOgE]

I'm guessing they are probably having trouble lining financing up for the Dark Universe. Mummy was a moderate success given the international take. But that was at a huge budget with one of the bigger stars they are going to have attached.

They are gonna have to go much smaller in scope to get anyone to throw cash at this thing.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

This will be what, the third time they've had to reboot this crap?

To be fair, Dracula Untold was never meant to be part of this cinematic universe - it was just a Legendary flick with Universal. They reshot the new ending to make room to bring it into the universe as an afterthought.

 

[Sweeney Tom]

ButTheyHadALogo

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Who knows what this movie is, but some weird horror-action-romance film on Valentine's Day could easily be ignored. Yeah, you can drag these movies to a break even point internationally with the star power, but domestic audiences don't seem enthused.

 

[Fancyarcher]

It's dead Jim, dead.

 

[Boem]

The worst initial choice they made with The Mummy was to set it in generic Hollywood action movie modern times. And I haven't seen the movie, that's just the trailer. I'm sure people would be into period pieces that played up their connection to the classics more. It's cinema history, apparently the backbone of this entire thing, and the movie looked like it didn't have anything to do with that old series of movies. Even if most audience members haven't seen the old movies, don't hide away from it - celebrate it! It could have been something very special and unique, and a nice celebration of Hollywood history. I feel like there's definitely room for that in the current movie landscape - more than MCU light.

It might even have pushed me to go see it. But the trailer looked like a movie I've seen a thousand times before. Life's too short.

If they retool the coming movies (shared universe or not) into period genre pieces, I might become interested.

 

[Penguin]

I'm guessing they are probably having trouble lining financing up for the Dark Universe. Mummy was a moderate success given the international take. But that was at a huge budget with one of the bigger stars they are going to have attached.

They are gonna have to go much smaller in scope to get anyone to throw cash at this thing.

Which is what I've been suggesting since The Mummy failed.

Like it may be tough with the star power they have now, but we don't need 100 million + monster movies like this

 

[Slayven]

It's dead Jim

 

[SillyEskimo]

It's dead Jim, dead.

 

[Knuckle Sandwich]

They don't need huge budgets or big stars for these monster movies. They are so stupid.

 

[Sesha]

Next step: Delay it forever.