Guillermo Del Toro regrets not helming the The Dark Universe

Guillermo Del Toro was offered the chance to take over Universal Pictures’ Dark Universe project which would bring back the classic Universal Monsters in a shared cinematic world but he turned down the offer, a decision he now believes was the wrong one.

Famous for making off-beat horror flicks, director Guillermo Del Toro has revealed that he regrets not taking on The Dark Universe. According to New York Times, the 53-year-old filmmaker was offered the chance to take over Universal Pictures’ Dark Universe project which would bring back the classic Universal Monsters in a shared cinematic world but he turned down the offer, a decision he now believes was the wrong one.

Director Guillermo del Toro attends the premiere of The Shape of Water at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Science in Beverly Hills, California. (AFP)

In an interview, Del Toro said, “The only time that 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.”

The Dark Universe was set to remake the iconic monster movies created by Universal Studios between the 1920s and the 1940s - including Dracula, The Mummy and Frankenstein. The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella and Russell Crowe as Jekyll & Hyde, proved one of the year’s biggest flops upon its release in June.

Other actors who were set to appear in the Dark Universe series included Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp. Depp was set to play The Invisible Man in a separate project.