Nicolas Cage’s Dracula horror-comedy Renfield is set to avoid the failures of The Dark Universe, which fell short when trying to use the iconic vampire to launch its franchise. In perhaps the role he was born to play, Nicolas Cage stars as Dracula in Universal’s upcoming movie Renfield, which will approach the classic story from the new perspective of the vampire’s titular henchman, as played by Nicholas Hoult. Renfield follows 2020’s The Invisible Man in reviving Universal’s classic monster characters, with the new adaptations seemingly attempting to undo the failures of The Dark Universe.

While the connections were played down afterward, Universal attempted to kickstart The Dark Universe with 2014’s Dracula Untold. While the film performed well at the box office, Dracula Untold was panned by critics alike, with its Dark Universe follow-up, The Mummy, not faring any better. Tom Cruise’s 2017 movie The Mummy debuted as a critical and box office failure, with the studio then canceling its Dark Universe plans. However, as established by the success of 2020’s The Invisible Man, Renfield’s Dracula story isn’t apt to repeat The Dark Universe’s blunders.

Related: What Universal’s Dracula Spinoff Renfield Means For Dark Universe Plans

Renfield is taking Universal’s monster movies down a new, modern avenue with its horror-comedy tone, with the director, writers, and all-star cast giving it a leg up to The Dark Universe’s Dracula venture. The biggest asset Renfield has is Nicolas Cage as Dracula, a role that has long been fan-cast for the actor, with Renfield also playing to the actor’s skills of serious horror and wild comedy. Even if Renfield’s premise somehow fails to entice audiences, the idea that Nicolas Cage will be playing the most iconic, unhinged vampire villain of all time is engaging enough to bring audiences to theaters. Renfield also won’t be taking itself as seriously as The Dark Universe’s Dracula Untold, which allows the movie to truly dive into both the camp and dark aspects of Dracula’s character.

Dracula monster role Nicolas Cage born to play

The story of Dracula has been told innumerably since Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, with the classic vampire character never failing to pique audience interest. While Dracula Untold was an interesting attempt at an origin story for the vampire, Renfield brings a much more engaging concept to the character. Rather than Nicolas Cage’s Dracula being the focus of the movie, the horror-comedy is centered around the perspective of Renfield, the vampire’s henchman and personal assistant. With Dracula taking more of a backseat role in Universal's Renfield movie, Nicolas Cage will be able to better focus on bringing out his best unhinged vampire act, without having to try to establish himself as an anti-hero. Not only is Dracula not the title character, but Renfield also finally places the character in a modern-day setting, a trick that not many recent films on his story have utilized.

While Nicolas Cage as Dracula is enough to bring in a sizable audience, Renfield isn’t another of the actor’s odd indie films or eccentric projects that primarily rely on his name for marketing. Rather, Renfield already boasts an impressive cast of today’s accomplished comedic actors, which includes The Great’s Nicholas Hoult as Renfield, Sonic’s Ben Schwartz as mobster Teddy Lobo, and Shang-Chi’s Awkwafina as traffic cop Rebecca. Renfield also has a script penned by Rick and Morty writer Ryan Ridley, which is apt to bring the perfect balance of horror and comedy to Nicolas Cage’s Dracula performance. While Renfield isn’t set to premiere until April 2023, the movie has already established itself with enough originality and enticing concepts to avoid The Dark Universe’s Dracula mistakes.

Next: Dracula Untold: What Went Wrong With Universal's Reboot Movie

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