There were never any intentions to include Johnny Depp in The Invisible Man (2020), nor were there plans for connections to the Dark Universe. The latest adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic, The Invisible Man, is scheduled for release on February 28th. The Invisible Man has already been receiving rave reviews from critics and is currently "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 91%. Developed by Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, the horror reboot stars Elisabeth Moss and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.
Universal's Dark Universe is the company's attempts to create a shared, cinematic universe revolving around classic monsters. Despite a few tries to jumpstart the franchise, it was ultimately unsuccessful. This initially included Dracula Untold (2014), but after the movie was met with mixed to negative reviews, it was left out of the Dark Universe. In 2017, Universal tried again with The Mummy reboot, which also received a negative critical response. There were initially plans for Johnny Depp to star in an adaptation of The Invisible Man, but it never happened.
In a recent episode of CinemaBlend's ReelBlend podcast, host Kevin McCarthy interviewed The Invisible Man writer and director Leigh Whannell. McCarthy asked the director where the Dark Universe was when Whannell first met with Universal and Blumhouse execs to discuss The Invisible Man. In response, Whannell said, "It hadn't been mentioned." McCarthy followed by asking if there was any mention at all about the new Blumhouse film being connected to the shared universe. Whannell answered, "No, nothing. And it was only ever treated as a standalone film."
Whannell continued, "At no stage did someone call me and say 'oh hey, by the way, we'd love it if we could have a cameo from Dr. Jekyll in the movie' or 'we'd love if you could come in and look at some of our plans.' It was only ever treated by Universal as a standalone film, and they were so supportive of it and had a lot of great ideas, these people are really smart people, so a lot of the notes I was getting from them were helping the film." McCarthy then asked for confirmation that Depp was never involved in Whennell's version. The director replied, "No."
Universal's decision to make a smaller movie, not tied down to the shared Dark Universe, looks to have been a successful one. With positive reviews still coming in, it seems that the reimagined horror story will be a much bigger hit than Universal's previous attempts at remakes. While the future of the Dark Universe looks bleak, there's a lot of promise in similar, standalone movies like The Invisible Man.
Source: CinemaBlend
