Alex Kurtzman discusses the failed ‘Mummy’ reboot, no longer part of ‘Dark Universe,’ but hopes it will happen

The idea of restarting the classic creature features in Universal‘s “Dark Universe” was an exciting one.

Then The Mummy was released 2017 and sent the entire idea, as well as Alex Kurtzman, down with the bad reviews. Now Kurtzman says the film wasn’t what he “wanted it to be.”

There were long rumors that things got out of hand for the director from either studio involvement or Tom Cruise forcing changes to the script, but whatever the reasoning the end result was a disaster.

“The Mummy wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I’m no longer involved in that and have no idea what’s going on with it. I look back on it now [and] what felt painful at the time ended up being an incredible blessing for me. I learned that I need to follow my own instincts, and when I can’t fully do that, I don’t think I can succeed. Those films are beautiful because the monsters are broken characters, and we see ourselves in them. I hope those are the movies that they make; I want to see them.”

Kurtzman is no longer involved with the “Dark Universe,” but he wasn’t able to go into any further detail and appears to be as much in the dark about the status of any future films as fans are.

At one point a whole lineup of big names were attached to star: Javier Bardem in Frankenstein, Johnny Depp in The Invisible Man and a new Bride of Frankenstein was set for production with Bill Condon directing. Sofia Boutella, Russell Crowe and Cruise were set to return for other films as well.