Universal Pulls The Plug On BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Remember Universal's Dark Universe, that would-be extended cinematic universe which planned to bring together all the classic Universal Monsters (if The Mummy was any indication) into an Avengers-style franchise? Well, about that...
According to Deadline:
'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."
Yes, it appears that Bill Condon's Bride Of Frankenstein has been temporarily shut down, which raises questions about the future of the Dark Universe franchise as a whole. One could argue that Alex Kurtzman's The Mummy (which, you'll recall, this writer sorta went to bat for back in June) pulled in over $400M worldwide and thus wasn't that spectacular a failure...but one could also argue that Universal was surely hoping for a much bigger response, and that the studio may well be getting cold feet about the entire Dark Universe endeavor as a result.
Of course, Deadline says Bride Of Frankenstein is only being shut down for "the time being", which means it's not completely outside the realm of possibility that it'll get back on track. The cast is apparently in a holding pattern, and the studio's statement on the matter sounds like they're not quite ready to throw in the towel, either:
“After thoughtful consideration, Universal Pictures and director Bill Condon have decided to postpone Bride of Frankenstein. 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.”
Here at Birth.Movies.Death., we seriously hope everything gets worked out, primarily because a Bill Condon-directed Bride Of Frankenstein is something all of us genuinely want to see (yes, even if it happens within the framework of the deeply silly Dark Universe). Here's hoping they pull it off, but that maybe it falls apart again before they can get around to disrespecting my beloved Creature From The Black Lagoon.
We'll keep you informed as further updates roll in.
