Psychological horror remake The Invisible Man has been a box office hit, charming audiences and critics alike in a way that paves the path for future Dark Universe movies.
The Invisible Man 2020 is a take on H.G. Wells’ 1897 sci-fi novel and 1931 film of the same name. Directed by Leigh Whannell, it borrows elements of its source material, such as invisibility as impunity, while shifting the perspective to explore those in a victim role, providing an analysis of power, privilege, and abuse.
The Dark Universe, first announced in 2014, was intended to be a shared universe of classic monsters from the Golden Age of Cinema such as Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, and the Invisible Man. After two false starts, The Invisible Man provides the franchise with its first real hit. Where 2020 The Invisible Man was a box office and critical hit, grossing 14 times its budget and earning a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, its predecessors struggled: 2014’s Dracula Untold earned a dismal 24% on Rotten Tomatoes while 2017’s The Mummy was given a score of 16%, and both movies barely managed to gross three times their budget.
Why The Dark Universe Originally Failed
The Dark Universe was conceived at a time when Marvel had proven the power of cinematic universes. As such, it took too much inspiration from the superhero genre. Its characters didn’t hold the same nostalgia value; where young people might have watched animated superhero television shows when they were young, fewer grew up on classic monster horror. The Dark Universe's primary reason for failure was its attempt to grow too large too quickly, rushing to announce an ambitious slate of movies in an effort to stay ahead of the curve.
Both Dracula Untold and The Mummy proved that the Dark Universe was thinking too far ahead, sacrificing individual plots for world-building. In both, the story onscreen feels more like a prologue that promises great things around the corner without actually delivering on that itself. They were too aware of what they were trying to set up. Both films started out big budget, going for the action-packed reference-based technique that only worked in the MCU after several movies’ worth of careful planning.
The Invisible Man Marks A New Era Of Dark Universe Stories
When The Mummy failed, Universal decided to pump its breaks and regroup. They reassessed how they would approach The Invisible Man based on these learnings, dropping Johnny Depp from the cast list and partnering with horror veteran Blumhouse to make a far lower budget niche film. In doing this, the movie was able to capitalize on horror’s potential for analogy: the monster is both a literal sci-fi feature and a representation of the toxic abuse of power. Classic monster movies have access to the horror genre in the way superhero movies don’t; The Invisible Man understood that, paving a way forward for future Dark Universe movies that are less cinematic high-budget flicks and more genre-driven and audience specific. Whannell himself has spoken of ideas for a portrayal of Dracula that get at the core of why these monsters have proliferated pop culture for so long.
The Invisible Man proved the value of standalone storytelling. Although it certainly leaves room for a sequel, with Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) in possession of the invisibility suit, it is also complete on its own. It has room for a sequel that explores post-traumatic psyche or the cycle of abuse, but it doesn’t demand one. This style of storytelling means that future films don’t need to adhere to past tone or preestablished conditions. Upcoming movies like Elizabeth Banks’ The Invisible Woman, which is reportedly unrelated to The Invisible Man and has no crossover potential, and musical Monster Mash can focus solely on developing their unique voice, bringing to light what made the original movies and monsters compelling. The success of The Invisible Man proves that the Dark Universe’s new strategy is not only successful, but really the only way forward.