As was made crystal clear last week, Universal Picturesis moving full-speed ahead on an interconnected monster movie franchisedubbed the “Dark Universe”. The first film in this plan isThe Mummy, which hits theaters next month and is anchored byTom Cruise, but over the past couple of years Universal has been securing talent to fill out the rest of its Dark Universe even as the films themselves don’t have directors.Johnny Depphas agreed to play the Invisible Man, Oscar-winnerJavier Bardemis Frankenstein’s monster, andRussell Croweappears inThe Mummyas Dr. Jekyll and his alter ego Mr. Hyde. But now a new name has surfaced for another iconic Universal monster:Dwayne Johnsonas the Wolfman.
Buried in aTHRpiece on Universal’s Dark Universe, the outlet notes “there are rumors” that The Rock himself could anchor aWolfmanreboot and fill that role in the Dark Universe. This wouldn’t be Johnson’s first time playing in the “Universal Monsters” sandbox as one of his first movie roles was as the Scorpion King inThe Mummy Returnsas well as the ill-conceived 2002 spinoffThe Scorpion King.
It must be pointed out that THR clearly states this as rumor and isnotreporting that Johnson is in any type of negotiations with Universal at the moment, but given that he’s one of the most bankable stars around it would make sense they’d want him to be a crucial part of the growing Dark Universe. Moreover, Johnson and the studio have an established relationship on theFast & Furiousmovies, with talk thathe andJason Stathammay even be getting their own spinoff. So basically, Johnson has certainly had an audience with the higher ups at Universal, and given that Dark Universe is one of their priorities there’s no way the monsterverse hasn’t come up. The question is how serious those conversations have been, and whether Johnson would want to add aWolfmanfranchise plus the overall Dark Universe to his already bursting-at-the-seams slate—he’s already anchoringaJumanjireboot, aJungle Cruisemovie, and an original actioner calledSkyscraperall within the next year (and I’m still holding out hope forDoc Savage).
As for whether Johnson is the right choice for Wolfman, it’s hard to say not knowing what Universal’s plans for the characters are, but personally speaking he wouldn’t be my first choice. The Wolfman is a tortured soul, a man at odds with himself, and while Johnson could certainly be physically imposing I’m not entirely sure his larger-than-life stature is a good fit for The Wolfman when he’s not transformed. But again, we have no idea what Universal has planned, so he could be the perfect fit for their specific take on Wolfman.
The character was most recently tackled byBenicio Del Toroin the troubled 2010 filmThe Wolfman, which foundJoe Johnstontaking over as director very late in the game afterMark Romanekdeparted over creative differences. The result was a muddled but not entirely terrible adaptation.
The next Dark Universe movie on the release calendar afterThe MummyisBride of Frankenstein, which hasBeauty and the BeasthelmerBill Condonset to direct for a February 2019 release date. Universal is still pursuingAngelina Jolieto fill that title role, but negotiations have yet to take place. We also still don’t have directors forThe Invisible ManorFrankenstein, but it’s possible Bardem could first pop up inBride.
We know Universal assembled a writers room to develop this Dark Universe, spearheaded byThe MummydirectorAlex Kurtzmanand writer/producerChris Morgan, but we don’t know who was put onWolfmanduty. It’ll be interesting to see if Johnson’s name sticks, or if this is merely a rumor that disappears as quickly as it surfaced. One thing’s for sure: Universal has puta lotof work into nabbing high-level talent for this Dark Universe, and there’s plenty of pressure onThe Mummyto kick this thing off in a big way.
