On May 22, 2017, we were introduced to a new world of gods and monsters. And, by that, I mean Universal Pictures shared a photo of Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, and Sophia Boutella, confirming the stars of their Dark Universe. The first chapter of this planned cinematic universe was The Mummy, starring Cruise, Boutella, and Crowe, which introduced us to the organization known as Prodigium, whose job was to protect the world from monsters.

What was meant to be the next major wave of Universal Monsters reboots instead crashed and burned after only one movie. In the below video, I look back on the path of the Universal Monsters that got them to the Dark Universe and how The Mummy‘s critical and financial disappointments ruined everything the studio planned, for better or worse (I think better!).