With the intense first trailer for
The Mummy debuting last night, the internet has been buzzing with the question of whether or not
Dracula Untold fits in with the shared universe of classic monsters being planned by Universal Pictures. Due to its poor critical reception, along with murky comments from the cast and crew, the film's status as canon has been in doubt, but according to
The Mummy's writer Alex Kurtzman, we can now officially write it off.
When asked by
Collider if
Dracula Untold would be a part of the shared monster universe, Kurtzman gave a rather definitive
"No." It looks like
The Mummy will be the new introduction to the world Universal is building, a concept that Kurtzman says started with the studio to begin with.
"The thing people forget is that the Universal Monsters were the first mash-up; they were the first universe built. It started with, I think, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, and that was the first time that they put them together and then from there they started cross-pollinating all the monsters. But that was only because Frankenstein had succeeded so many times as a film, and had spawned its own sequels, and Wolf Man had done the same, that Universal was at a point where they said, 'God, we don’t know what to do with these characters anymore. Why don’t we put them together?' and then new stories emerged."
Kurtzman also elaborated on Russell Crow's
Dr. Jekyll, and his role in
The Mummy. While audiences know Jekyll due to his own literary history, Kurtzman and Tom Cruise wanted to implement the character in a way that would help build the shared universe without taking away from the overall focus on the mummy herself.
"In looking to figure out how to place The Mummy in a larger context and setting up this organization that has actually been dealing with monsters for longer than any of us have been around, it became clear that we needed somebody to be the voice of that organization. The next thought was like, 'Well, it could be Joe Mcgillicuddy, or we could actually go into another character that makes sense organically.' It was a real point of conversation with Tom [Cruise]. And part of what Tom’s character, Nick, learns about the mummy and about the history of the mummy comes through Jekyll’s very deep understanding of monsters and how monsters have existing quietly in this world for eons."
The Mummy will hit theatres on
June 9, 2017. Be sure to check out the trailer below in case you missed it!
Tom Cruise headlines a spectacular, all-new cinematic version of the legend that has fascinated cultures all over the world since the dawn of civilization: The Mummy.
Thought safely entombed in a crypt deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient queen (Sofia Boutella of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond) whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.
From the sweeping sands of the Middle East through hidden labyrinths under modern-day London, The Mummy brings a surprising intensity and balance of wonder and thrills in an imaginative new take that ushers in a new world of gods and monsters.