Last week, Universal officially released the name for their upcoming shared movie universe that includes the various classic Universal Monster characters. In what will start with "The Mummy," Universal announced that they have named their franchise the "Dark Universe" and it will include The Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, The Wolfman, Invisible Man, Dr, Jekyll, and more. However, Universal might face some challenges for the name as Warner Bros. is considering a lawsuit for the name based on their DC Comics franchise "Justice League Dark."
"Justice League Dark"
While the names are not the same, the fact remains that there is a "Justice League Dark" movie coming, following an animated movie about the group which hit earlier this year.
However, plans have changed over time and there were earlier rumors that the movie would be called "Dark Universe," which would really confuse movie fans when it came to the two franchises.
According to reports, Warner Bros. is planning on suing Universal because they planned to use the name for the "Justice League Dark" property. As a matter of fact, ever since Guillermo Del Toro started working on the project a few years ago, it has always been called "Dark Universe."
This franchise includes DC Comics characters like John Constantine, Deadman, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and more. Del Toro has left the project and Warner Bros. is looking at Damian Szifron or Andy Myschietti to direct the "Justice League Dark" movie.
There is no release date or date to start filming, so that could weigh on whether or not Warner Bros. has the right to the name.
Universal Monsters
The big thing to take into consideration is that Universal did not announce the "Dark Universe" title for their overarching franchise until one month before the release of the first movie in the series, "The Mummy," which comes out next week.
Bill Condon is set to direct "Bride of Frankenstein," which will star Javier Barden as the Monster and that movie comes out on Feb. 14, 2019. While "Justice League Dark" is still up in the air, the Universal Monsters are already rolling out.
Tom Cruise stars in "The Mummy," along with Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll. Javier Barden is The Monster in "Bride of Frankenstein" and Warner Bros.
is trying to lure in Angelina Jolie as The Bride. For future "Dark Universe" movies, Johnny Depp is playing The Invisible Man and Warner Bros. has their sights set on Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to play The Wolfman.
