Tag: Van Helsing

I haven’t been much of a fan of Universal the last few years. They’ve had some good movies but they tend to be a little, shall we say, over-occupied with franchise building… The same can be said with every major studio right now (Fox – X-Men, Warner Brothers – The Matrix, Sony – Spider-Man, New Line – Lord of the Rings… the list goes on for each studio too) but I feel like Universal tries a little too hard to get into the niche and — well? Overkill.

Van Helsing is a great example of trying-too-hard.

The movie hasn’t even come out yet (which features Universal giants/film character legends of horror in Dracula, Frankenstein, etc) and Universal has not only a sequel lined up but also spin offs and a TV Show… They are planing for Van Helsing to be huge when it is released and from some fanboy buzz I have seen on the web – it will be.

Maybe this is just me being cynical and wishing ill on something I am not very fond of? Last movie that I heard huge money rumblings about before the films ever were made as the “Lord of the Rings” films — and of course I love those now. Maybe Van Helsing is going to be able to do the same thing in the long run (Kate Beckinsdale doesn’t hurt either)?

But, then again? What if the overly-CGI and over-the-top action in the movie and a mixed up plot goes and leads the majority of Americans to stay away? “What happened?” will be what is uttered most on the Universal lot but the truth is we know just what happened — they gave in to marketing before they made a movie worth seeing.