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Early 'The Mummy' reviews, "Dark Universe is dead on arrival"

I

Ithil

Member
SillyEskimo said:
If the DCU can continue with their universe despite overwhelming lackluster review then so can the monsterverse.
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The DCEU makes money in spite of mostly being crap, this is not guaranteed to. They're throwing loads of money at random big names to get them in these films, they have to actually make money with them.

Of course had they been smart and just made mid-budget range horror films they probably would have done just fine. Instead they're looking to make all of them dumbass action films with the Rock or whoever starring as the Phantom of the Opera revealing under his mask is MUSCLES and a machine gun.
 
S

Slayven

Member
Know what would have been cool? Instead of Hyde, the Monster SHIELD was lead by a wizened bitter Branden Fraiser
 
S

Sgt. Kabukiman

Banned
As expected. Cruise will survive this, I just hope Sofia Boutella will continue to get more high profile roles in Hollywood.
As for the "Dark Universe", I hope Bill Condon's Bride of Frankenstein movie potentially starring Angelina Jolie still gets made. Aside from that, I really don't care.
 
J

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Hopefully JJ-senpai will call Sofia-tan and ask her to star as JAYLAH in Star Trek 4th of Jedi.

(Realtalk: I like her and hope for the best after this.)
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Sgt. Kabukiman said:
As expected. Cruise will survive this, I just hope Sofia Boutella will continue to get more high profile roles in Hollywood.
As for the "Dark Universe", I hope Bill Condon's Bride of Frankenstein movie potentially starring Angelina Jolie still gets made. Aside from that, I really don't care.
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She's going to be in HBO's Fahrenheit 451 alongside Michael B Jordan and Michael Shannon
 
F

Fancyarcher

Member
Not surprised this is supposedly a turkey. Every leading up to this week suggested it was a dud, especially for Tom Cruise who is usually fine with his scripts. Oh well they need to stop announcing these cinematic universes ahead of time but studios do need their franchises I guess.

Random Human said:
People gotta stop announcing their series/cinematic universe plans before the first one even comes out.
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But how else would we be able to anticipate WB's planned King Arthur six film series.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
PHOENIXZERO said:
giphy.gif
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came here for this
 
I

Ithil

Member
Sgt. Kabukiman said:
As expected. Cruise will survive this, I just hope Sofia Boutella will continue to get more high profile roles in Hollywood.
As for the "Dark Universe", I hope Bill Condon's Bride of Frankenstein movie potentially starring Angelina Jolie still gets made. Aside from that, I really don't care.
Click to expand...

She seems to have carved out a niche for weirder, physically demanding/makeup heavy roles between Kingsman, Star Trek Beyond and this so I expect she'll be fine.
 
S

Slaythe

Member
"The Mummy trying to be a superhero movie — and ultimately why it doesn't succeed. By taking what makes the story of the mummy and trying to sculpt it in the mold of other popular films, it loses what made it unique. It becomes lifeless and dull, another summer blockbuster that will be forgotten about in a few weeks' time ... or until someone gives it the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment. The Mummy is almost a perfect parody movie of the superhero genre that has dominated the industry for the past decade, but that becomes an issue when that wasn't the intention."
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OOOOOFFFF

Aouch
 
I

Ithil

Member
LordOfLore said:
Polygon.
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Well I highly disagree with the notion that the DCEU set-ups were not forced in BvS, given the entire movie existed to be a set-up for other films. If anything this Mummy film seems to be following that model to a tee (the same model the Amazing Spider-Man 2 used to its detriment).
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Noisepurge said:
Sure, but they still have time to cut out any ties to this movie and make them standalones.
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That should have been the plan all along. What made Phase 1 work well, was that the individual movies came first, as movies first and Avengers building blocks second. They were just barely connected and mostly separate. The only really overt one was Iron Man 2.

All these cinematic universes are trying to replicate 2017 Marvel success without taking the steps that Marvel did over the four years between Iron Man and The Avengers
 
R

Razmos

Member
Messofanego said:
"And from there begins what is basically a two hour film where an increasingly beautiful woman cannot stop pursuing Tom Cruise, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg on the ego stroke of its star."
...
"The few times we aren’t dealing with orations about the 'new world of evil', we’re treated to awful, cringe inducing romantic overtures between Morton and Halsey, and let me tell you, Wallis has romantic chemistry with Cruise that registers somewhere around unfamiliar coworker. This is supposed to be the central emotional hook of the story."

#NotMyMummyCouple

Remember the chemistry between Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz?

7d4676d6c9152ed1d86ac485e0ff1d90.jpg


*swoon*
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A Tom Cruise film that's basically just a way to flex his ego? I'm shocked, shocked!
All Tom Cruise films are just steaming turds starring one of the most egotistical and overrated actors ever.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
Superhero movie comparisons? Gross

I take it there's no horror element in here then? Gonna have to see for myself whenever it gets on VOD but what a fucking shame
 
R

Ridley327

Member
DeathoftheEndless said:
I mean, The Mummy was basically a retelling of Dracula, so its not surprising you wouldn't like it lol. The Hammer Mummy is the best one anyway.
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Oh, I know. It's just surprising to me that I would like it less, since Tod Browning's take on the Dracula material left a lot to be desired whenever Lugosi wasn't on screen. The Mummy is shot very well (Freund was a rather accomplished cinematographer, after all), but its atmosphere is oddly inert for the subject matter and it somehow has far less interesting non-monster characters. I guess for me that it comes down to Dracula being elevated by Lugosi as he's so well utilized, while The Mummy wastes Karloff, which is insane considering how much they reuse that one shot of him staring right at the viewer.
 
I

Ithil

Member
More_Badass said:
That should have been the plan all along. What made Phase 1 work well, was that the individual movies came first, as movies first and Avengers building blocks second. They were just barely connected and mostly separate. The only really overt one was Iron Man 2.

All these cinematic universes are trying to replicate 2017 Marvel success without taking the steps that Marvel did over the four years between Iron Man and The Avengers
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And, big shocker, the Phase 1 film that's the most disliked is Iron Man 2, with its overt Avenger set-ups often cited as one of its biggest flaws.

Studios should have learned from Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Sony's failed plans for a Spider-Verse. BvS only came out last year, but ASM2 was from 2014, that's plenty of time to realize this kind of obnoxious franchise set-up doesn't work and hurts films. By contrast the newer Godzilla was also 2014 and that shared franchise from Legendary is moving along smoothly and quietly. Legendary are following the MCU method there, not just copying the MCU result as Sony, WB etc are.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
It's such a disappointment that this dark universe might be dead on arrival

This could have been an amazing slate of films. I think the actors they have signed up for it are all hella charismatic, and imagine if they aimed for hiring good genre directors and put a greater emphasis on gothic ambience and horror

Smh. Instead we're getting what seems to be a bad mission impossible movie with a mummy in it directed by kurtzman. And next in line bride of Frankenstein from the director of the dullest movie of the year
 
P

Penguin

Member
Like I said in the BO thread, I hope Universal's takeaway isn't to ditch the universe, but more find ways to manage the budget and expectations. Like make a series of movies that only need to make like 300 million to turn a profit world wide or something.
 
S

Sibersk Esto

Banned
I would probably be more disappointed in this universe's apparent failure if there was a sliver of my brain that thought a giant studio overseen monster movie shared universe in 2017 would ever have worked.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
Penguin said:
Like I said in the BO thread, I hope Universal's takeaway isn't to ditch the universe, but more find ways to manage the budget and expectations. Like make a series of movies that only need to make like 300 million to turn a profit world wide or something.
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I sure hope so. They could pivot this into something awesome. They have penny dreadful as a solid template too

I fear that the cast alone and whatever deals they have in place might already prove to be too expensive for them to consider going smaller with these tho rather than scrapping them altogether
 
A

AdanVC

Member
First time I'm hearing about this movie reboot of one of my favorite adventure movies of the early 2000s, The original movie and it's sequel were so damn good! And they were good because of how fun they were thanks to Brendan Fraser's charm wich Tom Cruise unfortunately doesn't have despite his good acting.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Penguin said:
Like I said in the BO thread, I hope Universal's takeaway isn't to ditch the universe, but more find ways to manage the budget and expectations. Like make a series of movies that only need to make like 300 million to turn a profit world wide or something.
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That's actually already the plan
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...el-like-universe-mummy-monster-flicks-1008839
What makes Dark Universe intriguing is that — unlike with DC and Marvel — the budgets of the films will range dramatically and could even include low-budget forays. For instance, sources say Universal-based microbudget horror producer Jason Blum has expressed interest in tackling a low-budget monsterverse outing.
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D

DeathoftheEndless

Crashing this plane... with no survivors!
Ridley327 said:
Oh, I know. It's just surprising to me that I would like it less, since Tod Browning's take on the Dracula material left a lot to be desired whenever Lugosi wasn't on screen. The Mummy is shot very well (Freund was a rather accomplished cinematographer, after all), but its atmosphere is oddly inert for the subject matter and it somehow has far less interesting non-monster characters. I guess for me that it comes down to Dracula being elevated by Lugosi as he's so well utilized, while The Mummy wastes Karloff, which is insane considering how much they reuse that one shot of him staring right at the viewer.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it definitely could have been something much more. At least it still has the scene where Imhotep wakes up from his sarcophagus, one of the high points in the Universal monster movies.
 
S

Sibersk Esto

Banned
Penguin said:
Like I said in the BO thread, I hope Universal's takeaway isn't to ditch the universe, but more find ways to manage the budget and expectations. Like make a series of movies that only need to make like 300 million to turn a profit world wide or something.
Click to expand...

I think this is pretty much impossible due to the price tags of the actors they've signed up.
 
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