It appears that Universal’s 2014 Dracula Untold which starred Luke Evans will not be a part of the studio’s planned shared monster universe after all. Instead, the upcoming reboot of The Mummy  starring Tom Cruise and directed by Alex Kurtzman will be the launching point for all the cinematic monster tie-ins moving forward. According to Kurtzman (who has also been charged with overseeing the overlapping franchises) Universal will introduce a new Dracula.

During an interview back in 2014, Dracula Untold’s director Gary Shore made the following comments with regard to the film being a part of the studio’s plans for a shared universe:

The monster universe thing evolved later on so the film doesn’t really adhere to those rules. It isn’t really tied into that. I don’t want to give away what happens in the film. It’s optional for them if they want to use it as that launching pad.”

This idea of a shared monster universe isn’t as new as you might think. Monster movie classics like The Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, and even The Hunchback of Notre Dame just to name a few started out as stand alone films before becoming their own franchises and eventually crossing over with one another. It would seem that there’s a lot riding on how The Mummy reboot performs at the box office, although we’re already seeing the introduction of more than one monster in the film (Russell Crowe’s Dr. Jekyll) and according to Kurtzman, work has already begun on a new Van Helsing movie. Knowing that the studio is so confident in their plans that they have already began work on other connected projects is really encouraging news. We’re thinking the execs over at Universal really liked what they saw in terms of this latest Mummy reboot.

The Mummy, which stars Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis and Sofia Boutella, is slated for release June 9th of 2017 with the studio slating 2 more unknown monster movies for April 13th, 2018 and February 15th, 2019.

Did you enjoy Dracula Untold and if so are you disappointed that it will be kept as a stand alone film only? What do you think of a new Van Helsing film being in production? Let us know and join the conversation in the comments below and as always keep a tab open on Don’t Feed The Gamers for all the news you need to know.