Bride Of Frankenstein Remake Has "Nothing" To Do With New Monster Universe Started By The Mummy

The huge success of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe has led other studios to develop their own connected movie universes, with varying degrees of success. There's DC's superhero universe, the MonsterVerse, Transformers spin-offs, and even talk of extending the Fast and Furious franchise.

This summer's Tom Cruise-starring The Mummy was supposed to kick off the "Dark Universe" of connected classic monster movies. But it has now been reported that what is supposed to be the second film in the franchise--a remake of the horror classic Bride of Frankenstein--might no longer have anything to with the wider movie universe.

In an interview with Collider, director Bill Condon was asked about how Bride of Frankenstein, which is due in 2019, would connect to the other movies in development. "I will tell you this--what I'm doing is 100% making a really good monster movie," he said. "It has nothing to do with anything else. Nothing. Zero."

Condon's comments are surprising, given Universal used Bride of Frankenstein as a key title in their Dark Universe announcement in May. Javier Bardem, who will play Frankenstein's monster, was pictured alongside Cruise and his Mummy co-stars Sofia Boutella and Russell Crowe, plus Johnny Depp, who will play the Invisible Man in a future movie.

However, the negative critical reaction and underwhelming box office results for The Mummy may have changed the direction of the universe. The movie made $407 million worldwide, far from a failure, but hardly a spectacular success on which to base an entire connected universe.

Bride of Frankenstein is set to arrive in theaters on February 14, 2019. Despite early rumors that Angelina Jolie might pay the title character, no further casting announcements have been made to date.