There is no denying that Disney and Marvel Studios have been doing an incredible job at making the Marvel Cinematic Universe so hugely popular and successful, so it is not surprising that we have seen other companies trying to do a similar thing with their own characters which they have at their disposal. However, these other studios have all been missing the mark and have failed to deliver the shared universe that the fans were hoping for.
When it was announced that Universal were going to bring together all of the classic horror characters they have for a shared Monster Universe, there were many excited fans all over the world. The plan was to start with the movie Dracula: Untold but, while Luke Evans did a fine job in the lead role, the movie flopped and was scrapped from the Monster Universe.
It was then confirmed that a Tom Cruise starring The Mummy movie would now be the lead film for the Monster Universe but, while the film did reasonably well at the Box Office, it failed to deliver and turned a classic horror character into a typical Tom Cruise action movie, almost feeling like a spinoff from his Mission: Impossible films.
Many of us expected that after The Mummy failed to impress the fans, Universal would then decide to scrap their Monster Universe and just focus on giving us some solid solo projects. That does not seem to be the case though, as a recent post has confirmed that there are still plans going ahead to make this Monster Universe a success.
While Universal have been struggling with their Monster Universe, it really could be quite simple to make it all work. Rather than turning these classic horror characters into action movies, give us some more grounded characters who we can actually start to care about and put them in a genuinely scary horror/thriller which the fans are craving, possibly even going down the R rated route, although that is not necessarily needed (just see how good The Quiet Place was).
The key for Universal to make a success of their Monster Universe is to actually give us the monsters that are going to scare the life out of us. Give us scary, give us creepy, give us characters we care about, and please stop giving us action movies. We want horror!
