Universal Pictures Asked Guillermo Del Toro To Develop Their Monster Universe and He Regrets Saying No

Universal Pictures' big plan to develop a big monster cinematic universe called Dark Universe backfired on them when Tom Cruise's The Mummy bombed. Since that happened, the future of the rest of the films including Wolfman, Bride of Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have been uncertain. 

Well, it turns out that things didn't need to be this way. Back in 2007, the studio approached Guillermo del Toro to lead the charge with their bringing their classic monsters back to the big screen and he ended up passing on the opportunity!? 

Why in the hell would he pass on that! That's his jam! We've all been wanting to see him make his Frankenstein film and he had his chance and for some reason he turned it down! I don't even know what to say because Del Toro would have honored these classic monsters in a way that would have made fans happy. He originally wanted to pay homage to the genre of the classic films of old Hollywood. 

Of course, Del Toro regrets his decision and during an interview with The New York Times, he repents of his sin:

The only time I repent I didn’t do something was in 2007, when Universal in an incredibly gentle and beautiful manner said do you want to take over the Monster Universe? And they gave me the reins of several properties, and I didn’t do it. That I repent. So this is a confessional moment, I repent. That’s the only thing.

It's a shame that we'll never know what would have come out of this collaboration, but we know that Del Toro will continue to make his own original film projects like his upcoming film, The Shape of Water, and there's nothing wrong with that. He continues to pay homage to these classic horror movies, with his original film projects.