Universal's DARK UNIVERSE Future In Doubt As THE MUMMY Flops; Alex Kurtzman Explains The Movie's Ending

Universal's DARK UNIVERSE Future In Doubt As THE MUMMY Flops; Alex Kurtzman Explains The Movie's Ending

The Mummy has flopped at the box office and while Universal is still moving forward with its Dark Universe, this movie's twist ending - as explained by Alex Kurtzman - could now be left unresolved.

By JoshWilding - Jun 13, 2017 08:06 AM EST
Filed Under: Mummy
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
With a little over $32.2 million at the North America box office, things aren't looking good for The Mummy's chances of success. While it definitely performed better overseas, this isn't a particularly strong start for Universal's Dark Universe. Yes, the studio is pushing forward with its plan to launch a shared world of movie monsters, but a combination of that and negative reviews have hurt the brand. 

"The Dark Universe is a continuation of a love affair the studio has had with its classic monsters. It is a Valentine to the genre that is in our DNA," Universal domestic distribution president Nick Carpou tells The Hollywood Reporter after insisting the future of the Dark Universe doesn't hinge on The Mummy's success. However, the trade points out that the pressure is now on for these movies to work, especially as Dracula Untold was supposed to launch this world and also proved to be a failure.

"I don't think Universal's Dark Universe will collapse because of The Mummy underperforming, but it should make the studio think twice about pumping so much money into their vastly expanding universe," says Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. "There will be a lot riding on Bride of Frankenstein. And when I say a lot, I mean everything." With Universal insisting that each movie will have a standalone feel, we can probably forget about an eventual team-up if the next movies don't work!

However, with the ending of The Mummy leaving Tom Cruise's character as a Mummy himself (his face is wrapped in bandages and never seen but it appears as if he's acquired powers after sacrificing his life to stop the villain), could that be left unresolved? Who knows, but director Alex Kurtzman explains:

 
"We actually used a fair amount of the design from Tom looking like a full monster in the one moment when he screams over Jenny. Because it's so fast, you can't quite process exactly what it is. You can tell something is very wrong, but you can't quite tell what it is. The choice to play their scene with Tom essentially in silhouette was very much designed from the idea that what you don't see is going to be scarier, and there's a subjectivity to the storytelling in that moment, because she's trying to see him as we're trying to see him. I'm kind of tying her experience to the audience's experience and hopefully it makes you lean in a little more to wondering what it looks like. Who knows what his monsterness will evolve into over the course of the next film? We have a lot of ideas about that. ... They live in a gray area, not just the monsters, but the characters who inhabit their world inhabit a gray area, and I look forward to seeing how Nick's struggle evolves, because he now understands the best version of himself, and yet, he's going to have a literal devil inside of him. How are those two things going to work together?"

It's an interesting move, but it remains to be seen if it will pay off. Kurtzman seems confident a sequel will happen and says we could see Cruise's Mummy before then, but based on these box office numbers, it probably won't happen! What do you guys think? Share your thoughts in the usual place!
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SuperCat
SuperCat - 6/13/2017, 8:19 AM
Still plan on seeing this :/
EZBeast
EZBeast - 6/13/2017, 8:25 AM
@SuperCat - me too mate...after about 5 beers to help get me through it
SuperCat
SuperCat - 6/13/2017, 8:27 AM
@MrNegative - LOL. Think it'll be that bad?
BloodyBed
BloodyBed - 6/13/2017, 8:45 AM
@SuperCat - redlettermedia likes it. I bet it's good dumb fun. I'm actually pretty stoked to pay-per-view it some day.
SuperCat
SuperCat - 6/13/2017, 8:46 AM
@ALostCause - Maybe it will air on TNT first. LOL.
BloodyBed
BloodyBed - 6/13/2017, 8:49 AM
@SuperCat - oh... actually my friend was [frick]ing with me.. just checked, rlm doesn't like it...
SuperCat
SuperCat - 6/13/2017, 8:53 AM
@ALostCause - Damn. My brother is seeing it today. He said he'll let me know how it is. He has really low expectations.
Luigi
Luigi - 6/13/2017, 8:54 AM
@ALostCause - What do you mean Redlettermedia likes it? Didn't they say hated thid on Half in the Bag?
Eagles0589
Eagles0589 - 6/13/2017, 9:03 AM
@SuperCat - I liked almost as much as the first Brendan Fraser one. It was definitely better than the 2 sequals.
MasterMix
MasterMix - 6/13/2017, 9:09 AM
@SuperCat - It's your funeral. I left my body and didn't react in anyway.
noahthegrand
noahthegrand - 6/13/2017, 9:12 AM
@ALostCause - it was okay. Had some good moments. If you like seeing tom cruise get hurt( in a movie, I'm not a psycho) this is the film for you!
SuperCat
SuperCat - 6/13/2017, 9:23 AM
@MasterMix - That bad, huh? Think I'll still take a chance. Sounds like a matinee.
AwesomePromoz
AwesomePromoz - 6/13/2017, 9:45 AM
LOLOL Alex Kurtzman sounds like such a [frick]ing hack, whoever hires him to make movies deserve to flop hard.
captquirk
captquirk - 6/13/2017, 10:22 AM
@Eagles0589 - I liked the first 2 of Fraser's Mummy movies. I'm a sucker for period pieces :)But it did go down hill from there. Bad continuity, and just heaping on more ridiculousness didn't help.
EZBeast
EZBeast - 6/13/2017, 10:51 AM
@SuperCat - took 3 for me to get through power rangers and that wasn't nearly enough.
ELAYEM
ELAYEM - 6/13/2017, 8:21 AM
It's a shame if it fails because they had such great acting talent and the idea of a Monster universe was really exciting.
ELAYEM
ELAYEM - 6/13/2017, 8:22 AM
On the other hand, dont force cinematic universes, and if you do, dont let [frick]in Kurtzman lead it lol.
Focus on making a good single movie first.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 6/13/2017, 8:42 AM
@Elayem - Yeah they got the guy who tried and failed to get a Spidey Universe going to head their Monsters Universe.
ELAYEM
ELAYEM - 6/13/2017, 8:48 AM
@soberchimera - Yeah exactly lol
bbting
bbting - 6/13/2017, 8:22 AM
They need to go back to the horror aspect, make these actually scary vs as an action movie.
Himura
Himura - 6/14/2017, 2:38 AM
@azimiq - If they did, the shared universe wouldve been wayyyy more interesting to see and set it apart from all the other shared universes everyone is trying to create.
ODanil
ODanil - 6/13/2017, 8:22 AM
I don't think I'm going to see this
MattBellissimo
MattBellissimo - 6/13/2017, 8:23 AM
The movie was bad?

Shocking.

Dark Universe is an awful, ham-fisted idea that I hope fails miserably.
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