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Classic Monster Reboot - Dark Universe

Brian G.

Editor-in-Chief
Jan 21, 2008
24,680
53,913
Orlando, FL
From SuperHeroHype

Universal Pictures today announced the studio has signed a two-year first-look production deal with one of the leading writing/producing teams in the entertainment industry, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, and their K/O Paper Products banner. The duo will kick off their new relationship with Universal by reimagining titles from the studio’s library including Van Helsing and The Mummy. The announcement was made by Universal Pictures Chairman, Adam Fogelson and Co-Chairman, Donna Langley.

Kurtzman and Orci have collaborated with some of the industry’s top creative minds including J.J. Abrams, with whom they wrote the third installment of Mission: Impossible, which grossed nearly $400 million at the worldwide box office. In 2007, they wrote Transformers and went on to write Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009. Together, those films grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide. More recently, the pair wrote and executive produced 2009’s Star Trek, which grossed more than $385 million worldwide. Accompanying their impressive film resume, Kurtzman and Orci have found tremendous success in television, having created the series Fringe, writing/producing Alias and in 2010, producing the reboot of Hawaii Five-O. They also currently executive produce the highest rated show on Hasbro’s The Hub, Transformers Prime.

“Alex and Roberto are extraordinarily talented writers and producers who know the value of a great story in building successful tentpole films,” Fogelson and Langley said in a joint statement. “They have been a major part of some of Hollywood’s biggest movies and television shows in recent history, and we’re eager to have them build on that success at Universal.”

“We’re thrilled to call Universal Pictures our home,” said Kurtzman and Orci. “From the moment we sat down with Adam, Donna, Peter, Jeff and the entire Uni team, there was an instant flow of inspired ideas. They really understand the importance of building a strong creative team and giving our shared projects their full support. We’re proud to start making movies that will live as part of Universal’s enduring legacy.”

Kurtzman and Orci’s K/O Paper Products will develop and produce a modern reimagining of Universal library titles including The Mummy, alongside producer Sean Daniel and writer Jon Spaihts. The pair will also develop and produce Universal’s reimagined Van Helsing, with Tom Cruise attached to star in and produce the film.
Kurtzman and Orci’s upcoming projects include writing Sony’s next installment of The Amazing Spider-Man; producing Now You See Me, for Lionsgate Summit, set for release in March 2013; and producing Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, also for Lionsgate Summit. Kurtzman and Orci wrote and produced People Like Us, which marks Kurtzman’s directorial debut and is scheduled to be released in June 2012, and wrote and produced the second installment of Star Trek, set for release in 2013. The pair most recently rewrote All You Need Is Kill for Warner Bros., with Tom Cruise attached to star, Doug Liman to direct and Erwin Stoff to produce.

Kurtzman, Orci and the rest of their K/O Paper Products team, including President Bobby Cohen, will be housed on the Universal lot. Former assistants Ben Kim and Kim Cavyan will come aboard as creative executives. Kurtzman and Orci are represented by CAA and attorneys Michael Gendler and Kevin Kelly of Gendler & Kelly, APC.
 
Is this project being dubbed Stephen Sommers Mess Clean-up?
 
Oh please let this Van Helsing be awesome! While the original concept for a Van Helsing attraction is now essentially the Forbidden Journey it could still be used in a similar way to make one hell of an attraction. Take the intimate experience of the FJ, remove the screens, and update the ride system then add in the characters of Van Helsing, HOLY COW!
 
Oh please let this Van Helsing be awesome! While the original concept for a Van Helsing attraction is now essentially the Forbidden Journey it could still be used in a similar way to make one hell of an attraction. Take the intimate experience of the FJ, remove the screens, and update the ride system then add in the characters of Van Helsing, HOLY COW!

I know we've all talked about what could possibly replace Lost Continent, and Van Helsing could definitely work, and if would be a way to get the movie monsters into the parks....
 
I know we've all talked about what could possibly replace Lost Continent, and Van Helsing could definitely work, and if would be a way to get the movie monsters into the parks....

Sweet JESUS YES!!!
 
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Well, all hope for an even half-decent Mummy reboot is now dead and buried. :'(


EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures is setting Len Wiseman to direct The Mummy, the reboot of a franchise whose most recent incarnation grossed $1.25 billion over three films. Jon Spaihts is writing the script and the studio is eyeing a potential summer 2014 release, so things are moving quickly, with Universal eager to ramp back up one of its most venerable franchises.

The film is being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci through their Universal-based K/O Paper Products, alongside former partners Sean Daniel and Jim Jacks. Latter two produced the version launched by Steve Sommers which starred Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. That trilogy was based on the Karl Fruend-directed Boris Karloff starrer that the studio made in 1932.

I spoke to both Kurtzman and Wiseman, and they said the script Spaihts is writing puts the gauze-covered villain into a modern-day context.

“When I first heard Universal was relaunching this, that is the image that popped into my head, the period tale, the old monster, but when Bob and Alex pitched it, there was a great new take and approach, and a very different mummy as well,” Wiseman told me. “It’s a darker twist on the material, a scarier version.”

Kurtzman indicated that while they hope to stay in the four-quadrant audience zone same as the last trilogy, that can be accomplished with a darker tone. “We’re reaching into the deep roots of The Mummy, which at its beating heart is a horror movie and then an action movie, and putting it into a context that is real and emotional,” Kurtzman said. “It’s still a four-quadrant film but as a lot of recent movies have proven, audiences are hungry for more than they used to be. You can still have a family movie, an action movie that’s more grounded than these used to be. Without saying too much, we’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from Michael Crichton’s books, and how he ground fantastical tales in modern-day science.”

Wiseman most recently directed Total Recall, and before that he launched the Underworld franchise and helped reinvigorate a franchise with Live Free Or Die Hard.

“A lot of the work with Len has been about creating mythology, and I remember seeing Underworld and finding it a beautiful advancement of the genre,” Kurtzman said. “It was presented in this fresh, incredibly cool concept, but it never gave up its reverence for the mythology and that is what inspired us to meet with Len.”

They first teamed with Wiseman helmed the pilot for the hit CBS series Hawaii Five-0, and they are prepping the pilot for the Fox series Sleepy Hollow.

They have already figured out how to get around the reason I feel the original doesn’t really hold up so well. The bandaged title character moves so slowly than he is no more difficult to elude than a single zombie.

“One of the things that interested me with this mummy is, he’s still in essence a man,” Wiseman said. “They haven’t turned his brain into a monster brain. He still has a personality and is very cunning and calculating. He’s a true character in any form, and in creature form, even if he is that staggering creature, it becomes more important that he’s a thinking, calculating person.”

CAA and Behr Abramson rep Wiseman, while Kurtzman and Orci are repped by CAA, Michael Gendler and Kevin Kelly.


Wiseman is where good stories go to die........
 
Ehhh I'm indifferent on it but still hoping for a huge success to get the Mummy a overlay at USF.
 
I am 100% hoping the Mummy reboot gets canned. After hearing that they are going to make it a plain horror movie just defeats to purpose and has not interest from me. Its stupid that they just go and change the genre of an existing and recent franchise. The latest trilogy can get away with it as they can decades after the first one. The Mummy films are adventure films and turning them into horror would be the same as turning Indiana Jones or POTC into horror movies, or even the reverse and turning saw into a drama. Plus add to that the fact that many horror franchises just put out crummy cheap films, with the same scare tactics over and over again.
 
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I am 100% hoping the Mummy reboot gets canned. After hearing that they are going to make it a plain horror movie just defeats to purpose and has not interest from me. Its stupid that they just go and change the genre of an existing and recent franchise. The latest trilogy can get away with it as they can decades after the first one. The Mummy films are adventure films and turning them into horror would be the same as turning Indiana Jones or POTC into horror movies, or even the reverse and turning saw into a drama. Plus add to that the fact that many horror franchises just put out crummy cheap films, with the same scare tactics over and over again.

Well they did manage to make the last Indiana Jones and POTC movies into "horrible" movies :lol: Those were just scary to watch :rofl: Like HTF I'm I'm indifferent to a Mummy reboot. I still think the Boris Karloff version is a classic that's yet to be topped
:cheers:
 
Looking forward to Van Helsing, and hopefully the resulting theme park attraction. I have to say, as a huge fan of the 90's reboot, the new concept, and the people behind it, does not give me much enthusiasm
 
Universal has brought another script writer on board for The Mummy:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=100406

Vulture is now reporting that Universal is so eager to get a script ready to shoot this year, that they've hired The Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray to pen a completely different script for the project. An insider told them that both scripts will probably end up fused together
 
The New Mummy Movie Is Switching Gears

This article popped up today. Interesting that Universal is shying away from a darker re-telling. Makes sense they want to make this a family-friendly romp. Opens up more merchandising and theme park options.

The Wrap is reporting that Muschietti left because, "Apparently, the project has changed direction, as Muschietti wanted to deliver a darker take rather than the four-quadrant, more family-friendly action-adventure blockbuster that Universal now has in mind."

http://io9.com/mama-director-leaves-the-mummy-reboot-over-creative-dif-1572683184
 
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