Johnny Depp was almost cast in a remake of The Invisible Man before Universe scrapped their widely planned Dark Universe. The Pirates of the Caribbean star would have joined the cinematic universe along with names like Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe. Unfortunately, the plans crumbled hard and never got a chance to improve which resulted in Universal Studios losing another potential cinematic universe.
The trend of establishing a cinematic universe has been seen in the world of entertainment for quite some time now. Mainly after the Marvel Cinematic Universe cracked the formula for establishing an organic vast universe spread across several movies, every other studio is busy making one such for their own. But not all of them could see a fate like the MCU and gradually advanced to see their End instead of an “Endgame”.
Why was Johnny Depp’s The Invisible Man canceled?
The story started after Universal planned a modern reboot of their Dark Universe. It was set to be established using the Universal Monsters and had a horde of movies lined up on the characters of Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and many others. And The Mummy reboot, starring Tom Cruise, was set to be the first movie in this universe.
Interestingly, the Universe ended with its very first movie after the Tom Cruise starrer crash landed hard. A very different take on the classic Brendan Fraser franchise didn’t work among either the masses or the critics. It not only stopped the Universe but also removed a potential Johnny Depp movie from his slate.
The failure of The Mummy canceled Javier Bardem’s Frankenstein movie as well as a movie planned with Angelina Jolie on the Bride of Frankenstein. Universal was not confident in the Dark Universe anymore. A report from Variety confirmed then that Johnny Depp was no longer associated with the project and Universal was looking forward to an independent approach with the collaboration of Blumhouse Productions.
How was 2020’s The Invisible Man?
After Universal left its plans for the Dark Universe and Johnny Depp was dropped from the movie, it was reported that Elisabeth Moss would lead the movie along with Leigh Whannell as the director. With the approach of high profits from low-budget flicks, the 2020 movie was made on a budget of a mere $7 million, earning a total of around $144.5 million.
Jason Blum had always expressed his interest in reviving the Dark Universe movies soon after it was reported by Universal that they would develop standalone horror flicks instead of advancing with a cinematic universe. But soon after the success of The Invisible Man, director Leigh Whannell announced a sequel to the movie.
Not only a potential The Invisible Man 2 but The Invisible Woman spin-off is also in the works with Elizabeth Banks playing the major roles as the actress, director, and producer of the movie. It will be exciting to figure out if some consecutive successes can lead to another horror universe under Blumhouse.
The Invisible Man (2020) can be streamed on Peacock Premium.
Source: Variety
