Eager to jump into the cinematic universe game, last year Universal launched the Dark Universe, a shared world filled with the studio's classic monsters. The first movie out the gate was The Mummy, and while the reboot did okay for itself commercially in the overseas box office, it failed to impress stateside and was met with mostly negative reviews. Since The Mummy's poor performance, the future of the Dark Universe has been called into question, especially after producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan departed the franchise last November. Now it looks like the Dark Universe has hit another setback, as Ed Solomon, who was hired to write the new Invisible Man movie, has left that project. Solomon explained his exit thusly:
At the end of the day, I think Universal and I had a different idea of what the movie was gonna be. We began thinking that our notions would meld, and I should've listened more closely to what they really were wanting. I think Universal has had to come to a kind of reckoning of, 'What are we doing with the Dark Universe?' and, 'What is our real intention with it?', and I think they're reconfiguring it now, which I think is probably good. So I'm not working on it.
The Invisible Man reboot was announced back in February 2016, but aside from Ed Solomon writing the script and Johnny Depp playing the eponymous character, no other details about the movie came out in the years following. Now thanks to Solomon's recent interview with Digital Spy, we know that the kind of movie he wanted to make wasn't in line with what Universal wanted it to be as a Dark Universe entry. The Invisible Man hasn't been scrapped yet, and it's possible it may still move forward either part of the Dark Universe or perhaps will be reconfigured as a truly standalone story. Either way, Solomon's time on The Invisible Man is over.
Originally a novel written by H.G. Wells in 1897, The Invisible Man was adapted as a movie in 1933, which starred Claude Rains as the chemist who discovered how to turn invisible. A sequel was released in 1940, but this Dark Universe reboot is the first time it would be re-visited through a modern lens. However, along with Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, apparently the Universal offices dedicated to the Dark Universe were emptied, so who knows if this iteration of The Invisible Man, let alone other franchise entries like Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Wolfman, will even see the light of day.
As things stand now with the Dark Universe, the next movie up is Bride of Frankenstein, which will be directed by Bill Condon. It was originally supposed to be released on February 14, 2019, but it was delayed last October so more time could be spent perfecting the story. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more Dark Universe updates, and browse through our 2018 premiere schedule to learn what movies will be released this year.
