Alex Kurtzman

RIP Dark Universe.

Hello, ‘Clarice.’

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is changing showrunners yet again now that its two bosses have been fired following allegations of verbal abuse.

Tom Cruise’s ‘The Mummy’ was expected to launch Universal’s new Dark Monster-verse, but now it looks like the multi-franchise universe may be dead entirely.

Star Trek: Discovery just aired its premiere, and already we’re impatient for Season 2. The same lengthy production that delayed Sunday’s arrival repeatedly might keep us waiting until 2019 for a second round, according to producers.

Alex Kurtzman’s reboot of The Mummy was… well, hoo boy. It was not well received by audiences or critics upon its release earlier this year, and was not a great start to Universal’s monster reboot franchise Dark Universe. Its reception also doesn’t bode well for Kurtzman, who is currently unsure about his future in the franchise.

Star Trek canon has practically folded in on itself, with rebooted movies following a new timeline, and Discovery returning ten years before the old one. And despite some aesthetic choices, Discovery will largely ignore any sense of the J.J. Abrams films, as well as the franchise’s many books.

Say you’re filmmaker Alex Kurtzman. To the outside observer, it would appear you have it all: a multi-picture deal with Universal to spearhead their Dark Universe initiative, more money than God, probably a bunch of boats, Tom Cruise’s cell phone number. And yet you’re driven mad by the one thing you can’t seem to get, which is the respect of the critics. Like pretty much everything you’ve ever done, the reviews have been downright vitriolic (and to make matters worse, your latest film The Mummy has not been the cash factory Universal was hoping for, now poised to lose the studio a cool $95 million even after a handsome global gross), souring your day even as you fail upwards into the next multi-million-dollar project.

Critics were split on whether The Mummy was the worst film of Tom Cruise’s career. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it’s one of the two worst reviewed Cruise films, with a pitiful 16 percent approval rating. The only previous Cruise effort with a crappier RT score is Cocktail, which has a lowly 5 percent (although it’s worth noting Rotten Tomatoes did not exist when that film was released, and its sampling of reviews that are available online in 2017 may not be complete or entirely accurate representation of all the reviews it got in 1988.)

The first trailer for CBS’ Star Trek: Discovery certainly won back goodwill lost by multiple delays and showrunner Bryan Fuller’s exit, but it remains to be seen how much of Fuller’s ideas will make the final product. Now, executive producer Alex Kurtzman lays out how Fuller’s influence will be felt in the first season, as well as a second.