The Dark Universe: A Complete History - Canned Goods

In the 2010s, Universal tried to kickstart a new cinematic universe starring their classic catalog of movie monsters. Obviously, those plans never came to pass, so on today's episode of Canned Goods, we'll be covering the development and cancellation of Universal's shared cinematic monsterverse: The Dark Universe. This mini-documentary contains a comprehensive breakdown of exactly how the Dark Universe fell from grace.
00:00 Intro
00:41 The Development of The Dark Universe
05:05 Why Was The Dark Universe Cancelled?

[@monty8615]

Moral of the story; Don't take Kevin Feige for granted kids

[@HemmasStudios_]

Kevin Feige is the undisputed best to ever do it.

[@kayaphus4303]

@@HemmasStudios_ Vision (completed) = Marvel's Frankenstein Wanda (completed) = Marvel's Bride of Frankenstein Moonknight (confirmed) = Marvel's Mummy Blade (confirmed) = Marvel's Vampire Ghost Rider (confirmed) = Marvel's Dullahan Man-Thing (rumored in development) = Marvel's creature from the black lagoon Werewolf by Night (rumored in development) = Marvel's Werewolf ⁠ Wow! Marvel has outmaneuvered Universal's Dark Universe plan!

[@melbournemumma2700]

@@kayaphus4303 thats cause Marvel/Disney know what their doing lol

[@aurahoneydew9607]

It should have been like a reverse Cinematic Universe where it's all rated R(it is Horror after all) and humanity doing everything it can to stop them from meeting since it would be a blood bath(no prophecies). Keep creatures of the dark as disasters/menace like the SCP or Cabin in the Woods Facility (minus minions the gods angle) instead trying to warp them as superheroes.

[@ligerzero9840]

@The Juiciest Lemon and when they finally were supposed to meet, have a reverse Avengers where the monster team up are the villains, and a single hero has to take them down, Van Hellsing! Aw that would have been amazing. Such a shame it went downhill.

[@mfundo6619]

I'd pay money to watch that🔥🔥

[@elloowu6293]

Imagine if these movies took place back in time, with a creepy gothic backdrop, (think sleepy hollow) the films feature one monster and its horrors, with Van Helsing investigating each case for a secret convent (like an old timey SCP foundation) with it being revealed later, that Dracula himself is the head of the covent. They could have hit that shit out of the park. But nope, let's take these classic monsters and make action packed "superhero" movies.

[@stuartlaws9977]

Money people ruin everything. And who's to say we still can't have a tv series of interconnected gothic horror? I'm already channeling Cthulu mythos and steampunk.

[@Veritech2011]

An alternate title for this video should be Canned Goods Presents: The Dark Universe, Or How Tom Cruise Killed An Entire Cinematic Universe In One Go.

[@HemmasStudios_]

This made me laugh way harder than it should have

[@stainshield]

So true, because Tom Cruise was THE Problem.

[@sfcSpidey]

I feel like the guy has just lost touch with reality and what it means to communicate with people who are servants of scientomlogy

[@____________838]

@@sfcSpidey you mean who aren’t servants of Scientology?

[@sfcSpidey]

@@____________838 yes lol my bad I got excited 😂

[@VidWatcher01]

Oh the irony of knowing Tom Cruise was originally going to be casted as Tony Stark before it went to RDJ but he tried to jump start the Fark Universe & it was not happening

[@stainshield]

@Omicron Delta Rho because he is movie poison, it was his ego that even wrecked Stanley Kubrick's last film Eyes Wide Shut according to R. Lee Ermey in an interview from 2006.

[@KING-bt1tm]

“The late 2010’s” Bruh that hit hard…

[@HemmasStudios_]

Imagine how much it hurt to say 😂

[@Rose_Bride]

For me, the biggest, most fatal mistake Universal made was: 1.) Hiring Tom Cruise 2.) Allowing Tom Cruise _ANY_ modicum of control I was genuinely disappointed that this universe didn't come to fruition. I was especially looking forward to Johnny Depp as The Invisible Man. 😔 I saw a great theory online, where Brendon Fraser's "Rick" character (from _The Mummy)_ becomes a sort of "Van Helsing" type character, fighting monsters through the ages. I wish they had done something similar to this.

[@stainshield]

I agree with you, because Tom Cruise was THE Problem and I am not surprised being how he also wrecked Stanley Kubrick's last film Eyes Wide Shut according to R. Lee Ermey. I would have gone for Justin Long as The Love Interest of Annabelle Wallis.

[@PrinceLuis100]

Oh shit I love this idea but Fraser's character would most likely be dead if the stories were to take place in a more modern time.

[@cujoedaman]

@@stainshield Don't forget that this version of the Mummy literally took elements from the Brandon Fraser movie and Suicide Squad. They didn't have any original idea, just copy everyone else.

[@stainshield]

@@cujoedaman they should of had it set in Egypt instead of Iraq and England as. Also they should of had it where The Peace Corps is sent to a village to give relief and drill for water yet finds Ahmanet's tomb. Ahmanet should have been a Warrior Princess who helped a General and yet he takes all of her credit and has her sent away to the desert and as she is travelling, she stumbles upon an abandoned temple that belonged to Set who was sent to The Underworld by Horus. Also I would have went with Justin Long instead of Tommy Boy, because Tom Cruise was THE Problem. Because he wrecked The Mummy with his ego which I am not surprised at, because R. Lee Ermey even said that Tom Cruise destroyed Stanley Kubrick's last film Eyes Wide Shut.

[@cujoedaman]

@@stainshield lol, lots of "shoulda', woulda', coulda'", but at the end of the day, they "didn't".

[@warrenrobinson3368]

Unfortunately, adding Mr big head (Tom Cruise) to any project where he has any control, is going to be disastrous at best. Because he wants to be center stage instead of the side character that he was supposed to be in "The Mummy". Starring, doesn't always mean outfront.

[@stainshield]

So true, because he even wrecked Stanley Kubrick's last film Eyes Wide Shut according to R. Lee Ermey. Universal should have gone for somebody like Jason Ritter, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Paulo Costanzo, Diego Luna, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Lawrence, Scott Mescudi, Rider Strong, or Justin Long as Nick Morton being how those 10 are close to age with Annabelle Wallis.

[@warrenrobinson3368]

@@stainshield now I keep seeing his name being associated with a Green Lantern redo. That does not fly for me. I didn't like how they made a joke out of the 1st one. Now they're considering Tom (I do my own stunts) Cruise. I just want to vomit.

[@melbournemumma2700]

Right. I love Sci-fi and I'm so disappointed when there's a movie with a great script and they hire him. And its destroyed by his acting. Minority report was a perfect example of this. It was a good film but would've been great if they had hired anyone else! They made a show from it and it was excellent but for some reason people still didn't watch it.

[@lildominator2953]

but if you don't give him control they'll replace you instead

[@warrenrobinson3368]

@@stainshield Speaking of "Eyes Wide Shut". No chemistry at all between him and Nicole. Thankfully for her, she didn't have much to do. In their 1st film together "Days of Thunder", you could see it. Also in "Far and Away". But in this one, nothing. The movie would have been better served with someone else. In my opinion, he's one dimensional. That's why he does the same type of movie all the time.

[@aisi816]

The original Dark Universe shocked the world because they never saw the like of it before. It was Gothic, romantic, sinister, poetic, frightening and macabre with humour that evolved from the elements of each story. The original Dark Universe did not have "movie stars" it had actors who gave pathos and meaning to the characters. Most of these stories were written in the Victorian era, when people were fascinated by the macabre and conflicts of morality. When Hammer made their versions they introduced blood and a sexuality that was more telling than before, and again used actors, not stars. There seems to be no understanding what these films were actually about and why people nearly a hundred years later, still enjoy viewing them.

[@HemmasStudios_]

Very well said

[@dhacker949]

The mistake was not realizing that the star of the original cycle was its production design, which is also the only thing Universal really owns.

[@tankedwarthog6424]

I actually like Dracula untold I think it tells a good story (even if the acting is very good) set in a historical context based on legends about Vlad the Impaler

[@stainshield]

Dracula Untold should have been THE 1st film for The Dark Universe.

[@____________838]

Oh yeah! It’s literally my favorite Dracula story besides my guilty pleasure, Hellsing.

[@magicman3163]

Ewww John money flag

[@mickeymouse7726]

I liked it as well it reminded me of the first Thor movie directed by Kenneth Branagh

[@MegaCatman45]

Universal needs a Kevin Feige type to make those movies work and Guillermo Del Toro would fit that job perfectly

[@ender7278]

Weren't there talks about him taking over at one point?

[@nemosthebandit]

Universal forgot that the original movies were taken seriously and that shit was what was considered horror back then. Instead they ran with this vanilla hacky horror idea and that concept trickled down into all their original franchises along with heaps of bad blurry cgi.

[@ricardodavis4730]

Possibly unrelated, but those old movies even had moments of dark humor, which if used in moderation, can give the movies more of a fun factor. But they don't distract from the horror and pathos from the titular monsters. Damn it, Universal. Get your shit together.

[@Allen2saint]

I don’t understand why Kurtzman is successful. He doesn’t have a great track record. His writing and directing is pedestrian at best. He doesn’t make bank. I don’t get why people hire him. And also, what a pretentious bunch of crap. All ambition and no commitment to anything artistic or fun. It’s not hard. Make good, entertaining movies with characters people either love or hate. That’s it.

[@hwoarangthedoorbell]

Kurtzman is butt-buddies with JJ Abrams, the griftiest con man in Hollywood, convincing dimwitted studio executives that he and his friends Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof all have unique, interesting, and totally-not-derivative ideas that are worth handing the keys of beloved multimillion dollar IPs over.

[@ender7278]

It's amazing how every studio tried to speedrun a cinematic universe. You gotta make good movies first. This ain't rocket science, folks.

[@jokerzwild00]

For years I've been saying that these studios need to stop chasing Marvel's success. Especially WB/DC. They do much, much better with separate distinctive visions for each separate property. Unless they're willing to put the time in like Marvel did and build their universe over a decade, then just let the Donners and Burtons and Nolans and yes, even Snyders of the world come in and make something new each time. As for the Universal monsters, I just don't think they have the cultural cache that Universal thinks they do. I think they can definitely make successful Wolfman, Mummy, Dracula etc movies, but they have to be distinct and stylized. Most importantly they must stand on their own as great films without relying on nostalgia which just isn't there for them in this generation of moviegoers.

[@xavierramirez1911]

the sad part is, they try copying marvel's formula by oversaturating the films with constant future setup, when that isn't even what marvel did. marvel made sure to tell iron man, hulk, thor, and cap's stories and establish them in their own worlds first before making them crossover.

[@BaconMinion]

Alex Kurtzman, the kiss of death.

[@stainshield]

Tom Circus Midget Cruise was THE Problem as well.

[@peppermintspacecapsule9898]

"...abysmal reviews...." Oh, that Klutzman! 😆🤣😆

[@AZOMBIERYO]

I watched the mummy in theaters and from the start it felt like tom cruise being in it was bad, like it wasnt a monster movie it was a tom cruise movie There's 1 scene where the mummy is still healing that i felt had a lot of potential had they gone that route the entire film Also the end with cruise becomming the mummy but also just being completely normal with just powers was so fucking stupid, seriously he has powers with no downside but he call its a curse and looks 100% normal

[@stainshield]

That is because Tom Cruise was THE Problem with The Mummy, he wrecked it with his ego and I am not surprised by that. Because R. Lee Ermey even said that it was Tom Cruise's ego that wrecked Stanley Kubrick's last film Eyes Wide Shut. Universal should have gone for either Jason Ritter, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Paulo Costanzo, Diego Luna, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scott Mescudi, Matthew Lawrence, Rider Strong, or Justin Long as Nick Morton. Because one of those 10 would of had great chemistry with Annabelle Wallis being how they are close to age with her and chemistry was why Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz did so well. Also if they had gotten one of those 10, you wouldn't have heard bring back Brendan Fraser as much as you did. Because think about this, did you hear people tell either Columbia or Disney to bring back either Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire back when they cast Tom Holland as Spider-Man in Captain America Civil War for The MCU, not that much and why. Because Tom Holland isn't a man pushing 60 who comes with Baggage like Tom Cruise does.

[@stainshield]

Also I forgot to say that Universal should have stayed the course with Dracula Untold which was modest, but it should of had violence on par with Game Of Thrones.

[@jacobanderson9262]

The Shape of Water was what Guillermo Del Toro proposed for The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Universal shot it down, not wanting a love story, but a horror movie. Wins Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year! Talk about big mistake!

[@cujoedaman]

It's sad, if they could tie in the Hulk movies long before the MCU movies started, there was no reason they couldn't use The Mummy with Brandon Frasier to kickstart a franchise. I'll just stick with 'The Monster Squad'.

[@number1connieconversefan]

This one really hurt to see crash and burn. I’m a big Universal Monster fan, so I was excited to see a universe of them all connected. Too bad it’ll never happen now lol

[@HemmasStudios_]

I still think there’s potential for a universe like this to live again, but overseen by a company like Blumhouse. Make less expensive movies about each of those characters then unite them. I know Blumhouse did the Invisible Man, but I’m unsure if they have any plans to tackle any other characters- I hope they do.

[@markthompson9754]

Hollywood writers are talent less hacks. Gothic writers and comics writers are geniuses. Learn it, know it, live it.

[@murciadoxial8056]

Man, they should have known that it was all gonna fall apart the moment kurtzman was announced as the main writer of that verse.

[@Lodestar.]

Thank you for putting this together and with good quality as well! I never knew the latter half of this stuff so it’s interesting to find out.

[@HemmasStudios_]

You are very welcome! Glad you enjoyed!

[@brandonspain12345]

With success of The Invisible Man, I hope we get more modern retellings of classic monsters and be less of a cinematic universe and more like a anthology series with maybe one or two movies that's a crossover.

[@escaladism]

Forget Hollywood, why not get the writer of Ju On and Paranormal series in Netflix to colloborate and do a cross over between their world

[@matthewsanchez742]

Random man in hoodie: “The monsters from Earth have destroyed all our advances. They are formidable and ruthless. To face them, one must fight like Hell” The Devil with his back turned to him: *Turns head around and grins*

[@rico9391]

The Dark Universe could've filled the space of Underworld.

[@HemmasStudios_]

This is such a cool idea

[@RandomRoss]

I think Universal should team up and make these move just stand alone not set things in stone for a Cinematic Universe see how they go then maybe consider if done right maybe get more people like Leigh Whannell I was pleasantly surprised by the Iinvisible Man and what he did with it and apparently there is a Wolfman reboots in development with Ryan Gosling

[@mickeymouse7726]

I love the idea of doing a modern take on the universal monsters characters because that was the original crossover before the mcu, dceu and the fox x-men movies

[@Kal-Grayskull]

This is why I prefer standalone movies, if you can’t build a successful cinematic universe then don’t have it shared. It’s more better if they made it more animated stage to build their cinematic just like DC animated universe movies.

[@ocpofficialrep7026]

Could have been really fuckimg cool but they blew it.

[@HemmasStudios_]

Indeed they did

[@stainshield]

All because of Tom Cruise's ego wrecking the film and they should have stayed the course with Dracula Untold as THE 1st film for The Dark Universe.

[@CLove511]

"A gaggle of A-list talent" And Sofia Boutella on that list for some reason

[@thenothing2786]

Obviously Leigh Whannell should just take over the universe!

[@HemmasStudios_]

That’d be such a sick choice if they shifted back to some of their more horror based roots.

[@stainshield]

@@HemmasStudios_ Universal should let Jason Blum take it over since he wants to work with The Dark Universe.

[@Simbabweman]

The way to do it is make a film stand on its own and hint a little at the end of more to come. Do not make your film rely on other films to be good.

[@HemmasStudios_]

100% agree. This is so eloquently stated, it’s so simple, but so many studio heads just don’t get it.

[@thereaper6137]

Honestly if they decided on doing a new dark universe, have the films go into the new direction blumhouse has the monsters going through, and if you wanted a universe, have them loosely be connected, but do go through with crossovers like house of Dracula and Frankenstein meets the wolf man, and this seems like a controversial topic, I love 2003’s Van helsing, and Hugh jackman isn’t attached to a big franchise anymore. have the 2003 film be the connective tissue, and work from there, you can have it connect to the brand new monster films they’re currently working on. and lets not forget, they say in the 2003 film, that helsing is basically immortal.

[@Dudewitdaplan22]

Tom Cruise’s ego aside, Universal’s major mistake was hiring the talentless hack Alex Kurtzman. They should’ve made Guillermo Del Toro their version of Kevin Feige and handed him the keys to the kingdom with no studio interference.

[@Godzilla-tu2cd]

Great video man. You got a new subscriber. Can you do a video on the godzilla universe? Either the tohoverse or the monsterverse, and what you wanna see in the future

[@HemmasStudios_]

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it! I don't want to make any promises, but keep an eye open around November when Kong vs Godzilla comes out!

[@Godzilla-tu2cd]

@@HemmasStudios_ ok that's cool

[@BradLad56]

Well 11 years later and only the Monsterverse and to some extent DC has seen success outside of the MCU. Guess there's a reason nobody else tried having a shared universe back in the 40s.

[@HemmasStudios_]

It's so funny- I was literally having a conversation with a friend yesterday about the Monsterverse is really the only other series that is successfully doing what it set out do do.

[@whiteshadow9095]

Tom cruise ruined it all! 😂😂😂

[@jalenikezeue4114]

Did you ❤ The invisible man

[@PrinceLuis100]

I wondered what the endgame would have been for the Dark Universe a lot.

[@stainshield]

The Monsters trying to take over the world.

[@____________838]

The American Darkstalkers cartoon...

[@giovan483]

Monster squad

[@TheHEROFamily]

I blame Tom Cruise. He pushed for more screen time and more action. If the mummy would have stuck to the horror aspect it was meant to have, I'm sure this universe would of thrived.

[@anthonygm85]

Frankenstein is the best way to start as you can incorporate Dacula as a legend in the story then easily add in the Wolfman

[@CRUELLANDER]

I would’ve loved to see the Dark Universe actually come to alive. First I’d rather want it to be called the “ Universal Monster Universe “ and have these be explore different types of horror. Like for example a Frankenstein Slasher Film, a Psychological Horror Invisible Man, Jekyll & Hide, Fantasy Horror thriller Dracula film, a story driven WolfMan movie. & more.

[@alexanderhalvardsson5752]

So its safe to say that we all should blame tom cruise

[@antenna_prolly]

I mean, with the Avengers, we know they band together to fight bigger and badder Marvel Supervillains; what would be the plot of "Dark Universe," what were they planning there?

[@HemmasStudios_]

The whole joke is that I don’t think they ever got far enough to know.

[@antenna_prolly]

@@HemmasStudios_ if they had no vision, they shouldn't have pursued such a thing... 🤔

[@EnriqueTortellini]

Luke Evans was a nice choice for Count Dracula

[@johnpicarelli2756]

Art

[@j.j.q1379]

Well they are building the monsters around the invisible man’s success of the last movie also epic universe is getting a land in classic monsters so I know for sure something would come out of this

[@irvingramirez2335]

They should’ve just made the wolf man a start

[@MikeSchmidt]

Too bad. I would have enjoyed that.

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

8:33 - damn - what could have been!!!

[@melbournemumma2700]

The reason Marvel's cinematic universe works is because Kevin had the whole thing planned out before the scripts were even written. So much so that he even planned out the things like black widows costume changes, Coulsons death and countless other things some we don't even notice, but the timeline wouldn't work without these things. So you cant just come along and after a movies half way through filming and decide your gonna make a universe out of it. The reason universal will always suck is because they don't have any original ideas they just try and copy and make money off other peoples ideas.

[@amitshah4203]

Before Marvel DC could even talk Dark Universe ruled Hollywood & still ruling.

[@rburns1918]

I never knew they were doing this and I wish they did

[@themoreyouknow6663]

cruise should have instead had a van helsing movie , that way he could do all the action he wanted

[@marioandria920]

There's some rumors of this Dark Universe, to make a Bridge of Frankenstein in progress again

[@MrBlueSkyof1607]

The Universal Monsters should've deserved better, despite me being halfway through my teenager years, they were, are, and always will be my idols. I want to fix it. If I can't fix it the right way, I'll just have to go with the next best way. I'm also pretty much dying to see Universal finally do an adaptation of H.G Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau, since the 1932 film was only distributed in terms of home video.

[@nefariousgremlin7554]

God, poor Sofia Boutella. It seems like after this film, with the exception of Climax and Hotel Artemis everything she's been cast in has been crap. She deserves better.

[@markuspaceuis3200]

Can you please talk about the proposed War Machine film please?

[@HemmasStudios_]

I’ll definitely look into it!

[@jobdiaz6262]

aww thx

[@ScratchthechalkBoard]

Wow tom cruise cut down another actors screentime???? And she was the villian? Enchantress was treated better in suicide squad. Geez man, not even following the basic actors code? He's lucky no one did that to him in his early career

[@thewlf-man4191]

The DCU/THE DARK CINEMATIC UNIVERSE cast Dracula:Captain America The Invisible Man:Ironman The Mummy:Black Widow Wolf-Man:Hulk Frankenstein:Hawkeye Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:Nick Fury

[@AZOMBIERYO]

Switch invisible man and frankenstein lol

[@xavierramirez1911]

van helsing would probably be nick fury

[@marioandria920]

Also the Invisible Man did happen in the end of the day in 2020s

[@gameofthugs4839]

Made for a cool picture

[@Cosmicles]

Thanks to Tom Cruise!!!!!!

[@amitshah4203]

It's better than marvel n dc extended cinematic universe.

[@rockypalacios2494]

Tom cruise fucked it up

[@jobdiaz6262]

Charles dance is in two monterverses ha

[@trinstonmichaels7062]

Trinston was here.

[@stainshield]

Universal should have stayed the course with Dracula Untold, because it was modest, also why in the hell would they put that fucking circus midget Tom Cruise in The Mummy. Because it was his ego that wrecked The Mummy just like how he wrecked Stanley Kubrick's last film Eyes Wide Shut according to R. Lee Ermey in an interview from 2006.

[@joegahan7055]

The Dork Universe

[@JesseTrapp66]

Great video! Sucks though, it sounded like a cool idea :/

[@mholbrook4738]

Universal restarted it.

[@marissabones]

I blame Tom Cruise

[@thesaltycynic890]

The Mummy Lost 95 Million.

[@buryitdeep]

Kurtzman sank it. Keep him away from the movies.

[@jalenikezeue4114]

😊 am glad The Dark universe Got cancelled I don't wanna see these legendary monsters get treated Badly

[@milagros77to]

I thought this channel was a knockoff of your primary account

[@HemmasStudios_]

Nope! Both of them are me!

[@HemmasStash]

@@HemmasStudios_ And the reason that this channel exists in tandem with the original one will be revealed soon ;)

[@elskeletor3566]

The problem with these film's was they had the wrong Director's along with writing teams. Dracula Untold was to much like the mummy movies, it should of been much darker.

[@stainshield]

Also have violence on par with Game Of Thrones.

[@stuartlaws9977]

There were a couple of scenes which played like a horror movie chase, but we were seeing it from the villain POV. If they had just gone full tilt horror, we would be loving and hating Vlad at the same time. When his wife fell I thought I should be more invested, but I was like "ok they fridged the girl" and kept watching without my usual rage.

[@elskeletor3566]

@@stuartlaws9977 Yes! They went for the Mummy movie's that Brandon Frasier was in, that was a mistake from the beginning. Dracula Untold should of had the Horror action to it.

[@stainshield]

@@elskeletor3566 yes Dracula Untold should have been Rated R Horror and it should have been THE 1st film for The Dark Universe as well.

[@MBloodT]

Nah, glad this got cancelled. The Mummy '17 is trash.

[@kfizz]

It was a cool idea but the movie was made poorly.

[@HemmasStudios_]

100% Agreed