‘Phantom Of The Opera,’ ‘The Hunchback Of Notre Dame’ To Get Reboot For Dark Universe After ‘The Mummy’


Universal’s Dark Universe series, which will feature monster movies from the production, will start off with The Mummy starring Tom Cruise this weekend. It has been announced that the series will continue with The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and The Creature From Black Lagoon. Now, The Mummy director Alex Kurtzman has confirmed that more classic horror movies will be added to the list.

Kurtzman, who is the creative mind behind the Dark Universe series, has confirmed during an interview with the Fandom that The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame have been added to the list of movie reboots.

Disney fans are familiar with The Hunchback of Notre Dame’s animated musical version from 1996, which featured the voices of Tom Hulce and Demi Moore. Fans of musicals are also familiar with The Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s adaptation based on the novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux. But both titles have actually been the first monster movies by Universal in which Lon Chaney starred as the titular characters.

No further details about the two new films in the roster have been revealed but there are already bits of information about the other films in the Dark Universe series.

“We know we’re going to do Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Phantom of the Opera, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Invisible Man,” Kurtzman revealed.

[Image by Simon Fergusson/Getty Images]

After Cruise’s The Mummy, Dark Universe continues on in two years with Bride of Frankenstein. Javier Bardem has been tapped to star as Frankenstein’s monster. The Invisible Man will soon follow with Johnny Depp stepping into the titular role.

Kurtzman also hinted that characters in the planned roster of monster movies could get their spin-off to expand the universe further.

“There are characters within those films that can grow and expand and maybe even spin off. I think that digging into deep mythologies about monsters around the world is fair game for us, as well and connecting the monsters that we know to some surprising monsters could also be really interesting.”

While big names have already been tied to the previously announced Dark Universe movies, Kurtzman revealed who he wanted to star in other films mentioned.

“I’d love to bring Michael Fassbender in, I’d love to bring Jennifer Lawrence in, I’d love to see Charlize Theron in there, Angelina Jolie…”

Jolie has been mentioned as a favorite to play as Frankenstein’s bride but negotiations have not been started. The movie already has Bill Condon as its director and a release date has been scheduled for Feb. 14, 2019. It remains to be seen if Jolie will sign on to play the part.

Meanwhile, Dracula Untold(starring Luke Evans) has been added to the list as well, which comes off as a bit of a surprise since it was initially thought to be the first film for Universal’s Dark Universe. As reported by Screen Rant, the 2014 movie had to have reshoots so it will become more appropriate as the series’ inaugural film. But since the movie wasn’t successful enough, it wasn’t considered as the film that would jump-start the dark movie series.

With Kurtzman’s statement, it is likely that Vlad the Impaler will get another reboot in the future.

Not all people are thrilled about having The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame included in the world of monster movies. For one, Katharine Trendacosta of iO9 implied that including these franchises in the Dark Universe may not work. Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical adaptation basically displaced all other versions, she wrote.

[Image by Rob Kim/Getty Images]

People are more familiar with the musical version, not the novel version and Universal has that problem to deal with. Furthermore, it would be hard to imagine such classic characters being reinvented to fit in the modern-day setting without producing a ridiculous story.

Do you think bringing black and white horror classics will work for Universal’s Dark Universe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by Simon Fergusson/Getty Images]

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