Guillermo del Toro regrets not taking on The Dark Universe.
The 53-year-old filmmaker is known for his horror fantasy movies – including ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ and most recently ‘Shape of Water’, which is inspired by Universal’s 1954 film ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ – and back in 2007, del Toro was offered the chance to take over Universal Pictures’ Dark Universe project which would bring back the classic Universal Monsters in a shared cinematic world but he spurned the offer, a decision he now believes was the wrong one.
In an interview with the New York Times, del Toro said: "The only time that I repent I didn’t do something was in 2007, when Universal in an incredibly gentle and beautiful manner said do you want to take over the Monster Universe? And they gave me the reins of several properties, and I didn’t do it. That I repent. So this is a confessional moment, I repent. That’s the only thing."
The Dark Universe was set to remake the iconic monster movies created by Universal Studios between the 1920s and the 1940s – including Dracula, The Mummy and Frankenstein – and was created by Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan.
However, this month, Kurtzman and Morgan stepped away from The Dark Universe.
Kurtzman helmed and co-wrote the Tom Cruise led reboot of ‘The Mummy’, which was set to be the start of The Dark Universe, but following The Mummy’s disappointing return at the box office, Universal pulled a planned 2017 remake of ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’, starring Angelina Jolie.
Johnny Depp was set to play ‘The Invisible Man’ in a separate project.
Originally The Dark Universe was meant to be kick-started by the Luke Evans movie ‘Dracula: Untold’ but once again due to poor reviews it didn’t happen.
Guillermo del Toro regrets not helming The Dark Universe
