A Dracula Untold sequel has been rumored for quite some time since its 2014 release by Universal Studios.
Could the success of The Invisible Man make this sequel a possibility?
Dracula Untold Sequel
A Dracula Untold 2 is certainly a possibility. A slim possibility but a possibility all the same.
The original movie cost $70m to make and brought in over $217 million worldwide making it a resounding success across the board.
Whilst the movie was met with criticism many fans loved the film and thought actor Luke Evans was perfect in the role of Dracula. A performance was that was praised by critics if albeit the story was a little questionable.
The Dark Universe
The Dark Universe created by Universal was kick-started when Dracula Untold was announced.
The first movie to catapult the Dark Universe into the stratosphere. But instead, Universal took a different route and announced The Mummy as the first film in the shared universe to be released.
A decision that would prove fatal as The Mummy bombed and bombed hard. A film that not even Tom Cruise could manage to save.
With its huge budget and even bigger behind the scenes costs this $300M+ production was doomed to fail.
With the film actually performing well at the box office it was background costs that would far outweigh its earnings as Deadline reported back in 2017.
As a result, Dracula Untold was the outsider looking in as a standalone title watching The Mummy burn in flames.
Dracula Is Still Relevant
You only have to look at the incredible Dracula TV Series that aired over Christmas to see just how popular the character still is.
Dracula has always been one of the favorite monsters in the Universal horror world and with video games, books, board games, more TV shows in the works. It seems now would be a great time to release another feature film.
Dracula Untold 2 was lost in Universal’s plans, almost hesitant to make another movie after the box office disaster of The Mummy.
The possibility of a Dracula Untold movie was all but lost as Universal really didn’t want to revisit anything Dark Universe related for quite some time.
Could The Invisible Man Success Pave the way for Dracula?
Fast forward to 2020 and the release of The Invisible Man has arrived.
Universal tipped their toes back into their horror monsters catalog and attached Leigh Whannel to direct the movie with Elisabeth Moss in the leading role.
What resulted was a box office smash as the movie combines tension with classic horror techniques to deliver a nerve-shattering and outstanding movie.
Our review of The Invisible Man
Bringing The Invisible Man into the modern-day by using a tech suit (rather than superpowers) to channel the invisibility was a genius touch. The movie felt more relevant and certainly more realistic as a result.
Blumhouse produced The Invisible Man on a shoestring budget of $7 million. Quite a step down from the $300M+ budget of The Mummy.
They kept things simple showing that no amount of money can equate to talent and delivery and on opening weekend The Invisible Man racked up $29 million in North America and over $40 million worldwide. Quite the outstanding start!
Leigh Whannel Discusses Dracula Reboot
Director Leigh Whannel spoke to Bloody Disgusting recently about taking on a Dracula reboot himself. He said:
I think I would try to get at the essence of what makes Dracula scary, which is, to me, what makes Dracula scary is his lack of mercy.
The fact that he might pretend… Like, he’s not a romantic. He needs to drink blood.
What parallels in life can you think of that equate to someone without mercy. It’s a psychopath, right?
A psychopath… So to have this conversation with you, I’m spitballing here, I would take the character right back to that and be like, I’m going to make the psychopath version of this. The person who just doesn’t give a f***.
Maybe he drinks blood but beyond that, there’s no capes, there’s no lightning, there’s no fog, no wolves. It’s just a psychopath who drinks blood.
That could be a very unique direction indeed. Once again bringing horror closer to home. More real-life scenarios than fantasy.
Just like in The Invisible Man where he was just an ordinary person. Not a superhero or an experiment or anything that borderlines fantasy. He was a real man, a controlling narcissist who would stop at nothing to have control over his partner.
Could Luke Evans return?
If Blumhouse or a company similar went ahead with Leigh’s pitch above I couldn’t see Luke Evans reprising his role. The direction is completely different and it would throw people off who would constantly compare it to the more classic majestic tale of Dracula Untold.
Luke Evans did state back in 2014 he’d be open to returning but with a flourishing music career that has taken off in the last 12 months, this could prove to be more difficult.
In addition, Dracula Untold was not very well received. Luke Evans was the only saving grace of that otherwise poor movie. As a studio, I can’t see Universal wanting to return to that particular adaptation of Dracula.
Will We Ever See A Dracula Untold Sequel?
Whilst it would be nice to see Dracula on the big screen I definitely think the studio is moving in a new direction. I think we’ll see a more modern take on the character rather than the copy and paste with a few tweaks approach we’ve had in past adaptations.
I certainly won’t rule it out entirely but it does look as thou that elusive sequel may never materialize on the big screen.
If they thrust Luke Evans’ character into modern-day and did it that way, it just wouldn’t work. We all watched the Dracula TV Series on the BBC.
The first two episodes were classic horror brilliance and the third episode was probably the worst TV show finale I’ve ever seen since Dexter!
We certainly don’t want a feature-length adaptation that goes down that route and makes those very same mistakes.
Would you want a Dracula Untold Sequel?
