Universal’s Monster Cinematic Universe in Peril as ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ Delayed

Remember this past summer when Universal was all set to blow everyone's minds with their new Monster Shared Cinematic Universe, aka Dark Universe? They (very poorly) photoshopped a picture for it and everything...

Yeah, well then everyone saw Tom Cruise's The Mummy and decided they were fine without any more of these. Problem is, they were already in production on a Bride of the Frankenstein remake with Javier Bardem and Angelina Jolie as the monster and title character, respectively. It was being written and directed by Oscar winner Bill Condon, hot off his live action Disney remake of Beauty and the Beast and everything. Only problem is that the film wasn't really actually in production so to speak, and has now been shelved indefinitely.

Deadline broke the news yesterday that the film had been pulled from the release schedule for "script rewrites." Universal released an official statement too that reads like a really diplomatic apology for rushing things in the first place...

“After thoughtful consideration, Universal Pictures and director Bill Condon have decided to postpone Bride of Frankenstein,” Universal said in a statement to Deadline. “None of us want to move too quickly to meet a release date when we know this special movie needs more time to come together. Bill is a director whose enormous talent has been proven time and again, and we all look forward to continuing to work on this film together.”

Now comes all of the interesting stuff. Bardem and Jolie are, according to the same article, "waiting for more rewrites by David Koepp before committing." That sounds like a smart move on their part, but then The Wrap ran a story that stated—according to an insider—that Condon was ready to drop Jolie and hire Gal Gadot as The Bride. This is all speculative, of course, but the general gist is that Angelina won't hang around long with Maleficent 2 currently in development, and so when she eventually leaves, Condon can swoop in and grab up the latest IT girl for his latest film.

Intrigue abounds in the Dark Universe. Let's hope they can that Invisible Man remake with Johnny Depp while they're at it. No one, but no one, wants to see that.