Tom Cruise's 'The Mummy' will kick off a whole shared 'Dark Universe' because of course it will
If you're looking forward to Tom Cruise's The Mummy, fear not – there'll be a whole lot more where that came from.
Universal Pictures has officially announced that its shared universe of classic Universal Monsters reboots shall henceforth be known as the "Dark Universe." This summer's The Mummy will be the first one out of the gate, followed by Bride of Frankenstein on February 14, 2019.
Bride of Frankenstein will be directed by Bill Condon, fresh off the enormous success of his live-action Beauty and the Beast remake. The lead actress has not yet been announced.
But plenty of the franchise's other leading stars have, and Universal's gathered them all for a class photo you can see below.
From left to right, that's Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll, who'll co-star in The Mummy; Javier Bardem as Frankenstein's Monster; Tom Cruise as soldier of fortune Nick Morton, the hero of The Mummy; Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man; and Sofia Boutella as the Mummy in The Mummy.
(Oh, and for those who've been keeping track of Universal's attempts to build a franchise out of its classic monster properties: no, Luke Evans' Dracula Untold is not part of this shared universe.)
In addition, you can check out the new Dark Universe logo at the top of this post. In the theater, it'll be accompanied by a musical theme composed by Danny Elfman. The Mummy, out June 9, will be the first feature to bear this motion logo.
The Dark Universe movies will be connected by "a mysterious multi-national organization known as Prodigium," per Universal Pictures. Crowe's Jekyll is the leader of this top-secret, extra-governmental team, which is dedicated to tracking, studying, and destroying the evil monsters that lurk among us. You can learn more about that shady group here.
