Home Entertainment DRACULA UNTOLD is now officially the first of Universal's shared-universe monster reboots

DRACULA UNTOLD is now officially the first of Universal's shared-universe monster reboots

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Dracula Untold (3)

If you’ve read my review of Dracula Untold from yesterday, you would have seen me mention that while there’s enough elements found in the movie which I enjoyed for its pure popcorn munching fun, I didn’t think that this was the franchise launching, breakout role that Luke Evans may have been looking for. Boy, was I wrong. As it turns out, Dracula Untold is not just the start of a franchise, it’s actually the start of Universal’s whole new shared monster movie universe!

We first heard that Universal had been looking to reboot their classic movie monsters like The Mummy and The Wolfman way back in 2012. Since then, The Mummy changed creative hands several times until the most recent revelation in July that not only would it now be directed/produced by Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek, Transformers) off a script from Jon Spaihts (Prometheus), but this would just be the first of a series – overseen by Kurtzman as well as producer Chris Morgan (Fast & Furious) of movies in which all these classic monster would be occupying the same crossover universe, Marvel style!

But now a new report has surfaced on Badass Digest, that indicates that Universal has actually pulled the ol’ switcheroo. The studio already had Dracula Untold in the can by the time they came up with this shared universe idea, but they weren’t going to let a good bloodsucker go to waste and ordered reshoots to add in a pivotal new scene that in actual fact positions the movie as this new franchise’s frontrunner.

Now it’s hard to discuss this further without giving away a few specific plot points from that movie, so SPOILER WARNINGS from here on out. Read further after this really cool poster if you want to know more.

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In the movie, Evans’ Vlad Tepes becomes the vampire Dracula after striking a bargain with a monster played by Charles Dance, who has been trapped in a mountainous cave for centuries after being tricked into his current horrific, imprisoned state by some demonic force. The bargain struck grants Dracula the use of the monster’s power for 3 days, during which, if he cannot resist the craving for human blood, he will be stuck in this ghoulish state forever and will take the place of Dance’s monster, who will then be free to gain vengeance on the one that had tricked him initially.

As expected, Dracula succumbs to his bloodlust, but the point about Dance’s monster now being freed is not really given much screentime thereafter. That is until a final closing scene in the movie, which has now been revealed to be the late addition to the script, slotted in there expressly just to open up this bigger world of monsters. In this scene we see Dracula, still alive in modern times being stalked by none other than Charles Dance’s character, now looking a lot more human, ominously declaring “and so the game begins”.

Just exactly what this game is and who the players are is still a mystery for now, but there are already a few clues laying about. A look at the film’s Wikipedia page reveals that Dance’s character, though not mentioned by name at any point in the movie, is actually listed as Caligula, the famous Roman emperor. Just who cursed him and why, and how does the new Dracula tie into all of it?

Well, we don’t know yet, but producer Alissa Phillips confirmed to press at the film’s UK premiere (via Hey U Guys) that is Dracula Untold definitely kicking off this new shared universe, and there are already some stories going about that Dracula will in fact be cameoing in The Mummy.

With The Mummy having been delayed until 2016 though, we’re still going to have to wait a while to get some answers as to how this all fits together. All of a sudden though, I just don’t really want those answers, but all these questions also make Dracula Untold just that little bit more interesting now.

Last Updated: October 3, 2014

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