In 2014, Universal Pictures released the action-horror movie, Dracula Untold. The film – directed by Gary Shore – reworked and retold the origin of horror icon, Count Dracula, with a view to making him appeal to a modern audience.
Set in the 15th Century, with Luke Evans in the lead role, Dracula Untold offered up an intriguing backstory, some decent visuals, and plenty of action and spectacle. The movie repositioned Dracula as a comic book-style anti-hero, who goes through a dark transformation throughout the film, in order to protect his wife and son from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Released in early October, a few weeks before Halloween, Universal Pictures viewed Dracula Untold as a big picture, and one that not only could do well during the spooky season, but could also reinvigorate interest in their back-catalogue of monster movies. If the film succeeded, it could kick-start a whole new series of Dracula films, as well as a wider universe of interconnected movies.
However, while Dracula Untold did OK(ish) at the box-office, it didn’t take the money that Universal desired. The critical response for Dracula Untold was also mixed, which again was not what the studio wanted, and audiences weren’t all that fussed about watching an action-orientated movie for Halloween.
As such, Dracula Untold pretty much came and went, without a great deal of attention. It didn’t kick-start a franchise, nor is it particularly well remembered these days.
But Dracula Untold is a fairly solid movie, which deserves a second look. The film has plenty going for it, with Luke Evans proving to be a fine Prince of Darkness, and it’s not difficult to see how this movie could have kick-started its own cinematic universe.
So, my advice is that you check it out, next time you’re in the mood for some Dracula action. But in the meantime, you should take a look at the information below, which serves up a whole bunch of stuff you should know about Dracula Untold.
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Year Zero
Dracula Untold started life way back in 2007, when The Crow director, Alex Proyas, was hired to oversee a new movie called Dracula: Year Zero. The movie was to be filmed in Australia, with Michael De Luca on producer duties, but after languishing in development hell for a while, the project stalled.
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Dracula rebooted
After going through further development, the project switched hands, with Irish director, Gary Shore, announced as the man to take over the movie. This would be Shore’s first feature film, having previously completed a number of shorts.
During this period of development, the movie changed shooting locations from Australia to Northern Ireland. Avatar’s Sam Worthington was also announced as being in the running to take on the title character.
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A new face and a new name
In February 2012, it was widely reported that Sam Worthington was indeed set to star in Dracula: Year Zero, playing the role of Vlad the Impaler/Dracula. However, just over a year later, in April 2013, it was announced that Luke Evans was to take Worthington’s place, and the movie was getting a new name, in the shape of the rather bland, ‘Dracula’.
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The cast expands
Over the coming months, further cast members were announced, including Sarah Gadon, who would play Vlad’s wife, Mirena; Dominic Cooper who would take on the role of the villainous Sultan Mehmed II; Art Parkinson as Vlad’s young son, Îngeras; and Thor Kristjansson as Bright Eyes – an assassin of the Ottoman Army.
Other cast members that would be added to the picture included Paul Kaye and William Houston. Charles Dance also signed up, taking on the role of the Master Vampire, who is ultimately responsible for Vlad/Dracula’s transformation.
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Baba Yaga goes bye-bye
In July 2013, a month before shooting was set to get underway, it was announced that actress and singer, Samantha Barks, had joined the cast to play the role of Baba Yaga – a beautiful woman who transforms into a witch. However, Barks’ scenes were ultimately dropped from the picture, and she did not appear in the final cut of the movie.
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Save the date
Shooting officially began on the film in August 2013, beginning in Roe Valley Country Park in Northern Ireland. During the course of production, the film’s title was tweaked from ‘Dracula’ to ‘Dracula Untold’.
Filming ran until November of the same year, with initial plans to release Dracula Untold in the US on August 8th 2014. However, this release date was pushed back to October 3rd, then to October 17th, before finally settling on October 10th 2014.
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Forging a universe?
A week before Dracula Untold was due to arrive in cinemas, news broke that some last minute reshoots had taken place in June 2014, to help establish the movie as existing in a wider universe. According to reports, the film’s ending was reshot (moving the events of the film’s conclusion from the 15th Century to the present day), to create the ground work for a cinematic universe to rival Marvel.
These reports were quickly downplayed by representatives for Universal, who claimed the movie was in no way rejigged at the 11th hour so the studio could create a Marvel-style universe. However, at the film’s UK premiere, executive producer Alissa Phillips, did seem to suggest she was hopeful that Vlad/Dracula would appear in Universal’s next picture, The Mummy (2017), further convincing audiences that a Monster Universe was on the cards.
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Drac at the box-office
Released to mixed reviews (some good, some not-so good), Dracula Untold took $217.1 million at the worldwide box-office, from a budget of $70 million. While this might not seem too bad, only $56.3 million of the total came from North America (far below Universal’s expectations), and this was not the best start for a new franchise.
The general response to the film was also quite muted, which is not what a studio wants when they are looking to set up new characters, and potentially a whole new universe. For this reason, any plans for a sequel were quietly dropped.
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The Dark Universe implodes
With Dracula Untold not quite living up to expectations, Universal Pictures moved forward with their next monster movie, The Mummy, which starred Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe. The film did not feature Vlad/Dracula, or have any connection to Dracula Untold.
Instead, The Mummy was officially announced as the starting point for Universal’s cinematic Monster Universe, known as ‘The Dark Universe’. The Dark Universe was to incorporate a collection of interconnected movies, beginning with The Mummy, and continuing with The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and The Wolf-Man.
A number of actors were cast for the projects (Angelina Jolie as the Bride, Johnny Depp as The Invisible Man, Javier Bardem as the Wolf-Man), and Universal even went so far as to release a photo featuring various Dark Universe actors. Although the studio had been burned with Dracula Untold, studio heads were convinced this film would get a cinematic universe off the ground, where that one had failed.
However, upon release, The Mummy was both a critical and commercial failure, which instantly torpedoed any chances of further entries in The Dark Universe. For the second time in a row, Universal had to abandon plans for a shared universe, and instead returned to making solo monster movies.
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Revisiting Dracula Untold
And finally, shortly after Dracula Untold was released in cinemas, the film made its way onto home video, where it was given a DVD, Blu-ray, and digital release. The Blu-ray release included supplementary material, including deleted scenes, a couple of featurettes, and an alternate opening.
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Thank you for stopping by It’s A Stampede! to read this post about Dracula Untold – I hope it has proved useful. For more posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.
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