History YMMV / DarkUniverse

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The announcement trailer for the franchise features a new song written as a {{Leitmotif}} for it by Danny Elfman. It sounds about as darkly epic as you'd expect.

** One movie in, and there are some signs of this already. Namely whether the franchise should be playing it closer to the modern SharedUniverse model to attract those audiences (such as fans of the ''Film/MarvelCinematicUniverse''), or whether it should veer more to the style that defined the original ''Franchise/UniversalHorror'' brand, as well as most of the horror genre. Although ''The Mummy'' seemed to try appealing to both sides, it didn't really hit it off with either. Perhaps because of this, the second movie has been pushed back to allow time to rework the script.

** It got even worse when it was revealed that Javier Bardem was ''never'' actually officially signed up to play Frankenstein's Monster, and all of Universal's bragging about the whole franchise they were going to create started looking just that more arrogant. The "cast photo" of all the monster actors released prior to ''The Mummy'' is now a big shorthand for studio hubris.

* UncertainAudience: One movie in, and there are some signs of this already. Namely whether the franchise should be playing it closer to the modern SharedUniverse model to attract those audiences (such as fans of the ''Film/MarvelCinematicUniverse''), or whether it should veer more to the style that defined the original ''Franchise/UniversalHorror'' brand, as well as most of the horror genre. Although ''The Mummy'' seemed to try appealing to both sides, it didn't really hit it off with either. Perhaps because of this, the second movie has been pushed back to allow time to rework the script.

* FandomRivalry: Some friction between this universe and the ''Film/MonsterVerse'' after Universal's reaction to the use of King Kong, with a representative even saying "shared monster universes don't work". There is also a distinct rivalry so far with the ''Film/MarvelCinematicUniverse'', with plenty of people in that community finding the ''Dark Universe'' to be a lackluster FollowTheLeader example.

** The decision to include a ''Dark Universe'' logo in front of ''Film/{{The Mummy|2017}}'' -- before the movie had even established its cinematic universe, or attracted enough interest in said universe to warrant naming an entire brand -- was mocked for putting the cart before the horse. Some audiences for that film reportedly laughed derisively when the logo was unveiled before the movie started, viewing it as a pretty blatant case of FollowTheLeader for the "Cinematic Universe" trend. The fact that the movie was only marginally profitable didn't help matters.

* SnarkBait: The decision to include a ''Dark Universe'' logo in front of ''Film/{{The Mummy|2017}}'' -- before the movie had even established its cinematic universe, or attracted enough interest in said universe to warrant naming an entire brand -- was mocked for putting the cart before the horse. Some audiences for that film reportedly laughed derisively when the logo was unveiled before the movie started, viewing it as a pretty blatant case of FollowTheLeader for the "Cinematic Universe" trend. The fact that the movie was only marginally profitable didn't help matters.

** It gets worse for the project - [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/alex-kurtzman-chris-morgan-exit-universal-monsterverse-1055854 The main architects of the Dark Universe have bailed on the project as of November 2017.]] The Dark Universe may be basically rebooted or outright ended before it has a chance to get going. Though considering ''Film/{{The Mummy|2017}}'' is considered by many to be a dreadful film and a poor foundation for a cinematic universe, some aren't exactly considering this a bad thing.

** It gets worse - [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/alex-kurtzman-chris-morgan-exit-universal-monsterverse-1055854 The main architects of the Dark Universe have bailed on the project as of November 2017.]] The Dark Universe may be basically rebooted or outright ended before it has a chance to get going.

* FandomRivalry / FriendlyFandoms: As of late 2017
** There is some issue between this and the ''Film/MonsterVerse'' after Universal's reaction to the use of King Kong with even a representative saying "shared monster universes don't work". As such creating some animosity with this universe now existing. In general there's plenty of overlap between giant monster fans and classic monster fans so whether this will improve may change or as they stand as horror franchises in a sea of super hero franchises.
** There is also a distinct rivalry so far with the ''Film/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' with plenty of in that community finding even with the above being a lackluster FollowTheLeader example. It's not sure Universal itself realized many of the things that they may want to follow the MCU are things that will tick off the monster/horror fans and vice versa. But only one movie in, it's pretty clear both fandoms have realized this already.

* SnarkBait: The decision to include a ''Dark Universe'' logo in front of ''Film/{{The Mummy|2017}}'' -- before the movie had even '''established''' its cinematic universe, or attracted enough interest in said universe to warrant naming an entire brand -- was mocked for putting the cart before the horse. Some audiences for that film reportedly laughed derisively when the logo was unveiled before the movie started, viewing it as a pretty blatant case of FollowTheLeader for the "Cinematic Universe" trend. The fact that the movie was only marginally profitable didn't help matters.

* UncertainAudience: One movie in, and there are some signs of this already. Namely whether the franchise should be playing it closer to the modern SharedUniverse model to attract those audiences (such as fans of the ''Film/MarvelCinematicUniverse''), or whether it should veer more to the style that defined the original Universal Horror brand, as well as most of the horror genre. Although ''The Mummy'' seemed to try appealing to both sides, it didn't really hit it off with either. Perhaps because of this, the second movie has been pushed back to allow time to rework the script.

* UncertainAudience: One movie in, and there are some signs of this already. Namely whether the franchise should be playing it closer to the modern SharedUniverse model to attract in the audiences that are eating up it (like the ''Film/MarvelCinematicUniverse'') or should it veer more to the looser take it as it rolls model that defined the original Universal Horror brand as well as most of the horror genre. The Mummy seemed do some things to appeal to both sides that bothered the other, this trope may be more settled given they pushed back the second movie to rework on the script.

* SnarkBait: The decision to include a ''Dark Universe'' logo in front of ''Film/{{The Mummy|2017}}'' -- before the movie had even established its cinematic universe, or attracted enough interest in said universe to warrant naming an entire brand -- was mocked for putting the cart before the horse. Some audiences for that film reportedly laughed derisively when the logo was unveiled before the movie started, viewing it as a pretty blatant case of FollowTheLeader for the "Cinematic Universe" trend. The fact that the movie was only marginally profitable didn't help matters.

* SnarkBait: The decision to include a ''Dark Universe'' logo in front of ''The Mummy'' -- before the movie had even established its cinematic universe, or attracted enough interest in said universe to warrant naming an entire brand -- was mocked for putting the cart before the horse. Some audiences for that film reportedly laughed derisively when the logo was unveiled before the movie started, viewing it as a pretty blatant case of FollowTheLeader for the "Cinematic Universe" trend. That the movie was only marginally profitable didn't help matters.

* SnarkBait: The franchise is being thoroughly mocked for first retooling ''Dracula Untold'' late in production to serve as an introduction only to scrap it after mostly lukewarm reception, and then having the second attempt at its first film be just as badly received, [[FromBadToWorse if not more so]] (though with Tom Cruise's help, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff it made big bucks internationally]]). It doesn't help that they had the chutzpah to actually give the franchise its own logo at the start of ''The Mummy'', which has been reported to be met by derisive laughter in several theaters.

* SnarkBait: The franchise is being thoroughly mocked for first retooling ''Dracula Untold'' late in production to serve as an introduction only to scrap it after mostly lukewarm reception, and then having the second attempt at its first film be just as badly received, [[FromBadToWorse if not more so]]. It doesn't help that they had the chutzpah to actually give the franchise its own logo at the start of ''The Mummy'', which has been reported to be met by derisive laughter in several theaters.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the classic UniversalHorror films, [[UrExample one of the earliest examples]] of a SharedUniverse in cinema. The classic Universal Horror monsters were loosely connected through crossover films. In contrast, this is planned to follow the modern "cinematic universe" model [[TropeCodifier as codified by]] the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: with tighter continuity, EasterEggs and {{Sequel Hook}}s.

* SnarkBait: The franchise was quite thoroughly mocked for first retooling a movie late in production to serve as an introduction only to scrap it when people hated it, and then having the second attempt at its first film be just as badly received, [[FromBadToWorse if not more so]]. It doesn't help that they had the chutzpah to actually give the franchise its own logo at the start of each film, which has been reported to be met by derisive laughter in several theaters.

* SnarkBait: The franchise was quite thoroughly mocked for first retooling a movie late in production to serve as an introduction only to scrap it when people hated it, and then having the second attempt at its first film be just as badly received, [[FromBadToWorse if not more so]].

* SnarkBait: The franchise was quite thoroughly mocked for first retooling a movie late in production to serve as an introduction only to scrap it when people hated it, and then having the second attempt at its first film be just as badly received.

* SnarkBait: The franchise was quite thoroughly mocked for first retooling a movie late in production to serve as an introduction only to scrap it when people hated it, and then having the second attempt at its first film be just as badly received. Even the DC Extended Universe didn't hit that many roadblocks.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To the classic UniversalHorror films, [[UrExample one of the earliest examples]] of a SharedUniverse in cinema. The classic Universal Horror monsters were loosely connected through crossover films. In contrast, this is planned to follow the modern "cinematic universe" model [[TropeCodifier as codified by]] the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: with tighter continuity, EasterEggs and {{Sequel Hook}}s.

* SnarkBait: The franchise was quite thoroughly mocked for first retooling a movie late in production to serve as an introduction only to scrap it when people hated it, and then having the second attempt at its first film be just as badly received. Even the DC Extended Universe didn't sink so quickly.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the classic UniversalHorror films, [[UrExample one of the earliest examples]] of a SharedUniverse in cinema. The classic Universal Horror monsters were loosely connected through crossover films. In contrast, this is planned to follow the modern "cinematic universe" model [[TropeCodifier as codified by]] the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: with tighter continuity, EasterEggs and SequelHooks.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The announcement trailer for the franchise features a new song written as a {{Leitmotif}} for it by Danny Elfman. It sounds about as darkly epic as you'd expect.