Warner Brothers Suing Universal Over “Dark Universe” Title? 

In an article from The Hollywood Reporter it was revealed that Warner Bros may be considering legal action against Universal over the title of their recently revealed Monster based Shared Universe.  Their source claims that the thought is that this title will cause brand confusion due to the long gestating Justice League Dark film which they’ve decided they want to also call “Dark Universe” to avoid confusion with this year’s Justice League, which I also find just a little ridiculous. 

People are smart enough (I think) to differentiate between the two, especially considering one of them is a single movie that has been in development hell for the past decade and really hasn’t shown any signs that it’s going to actually be made and the other is a cinematic universe encompassing several films based on Universal’s collection of Monster Movie IPs.  Justice League Dark probably won’t be coming out for a few years, if ever, so by the time it does come out, I’m sure they’ll be able to come up with a good name for it that won’t potentially confuse people. 

Over time several movies have been released that have the same title that aren’t remotely related.  Warner’s keeps losing directors for their film, who knows if the script is done, and when it could start filming.  Universal already has 1 movie ready for release with more on the way.  I don’t see it being a problem from a consumer point of view. 

Personally, I’m excited for Universal’s Dark Universe.  While I’ve been getting tired of all the reboots and remakes we’ve been getting recently, it’s actually been quite a long time since we’ve seen any of the classic Universal Monsters on screen (I refuse to count Eddie Murphy’s The Nutty Professor series).  Even though it hasn’t been that long since Brendan Fraser fought The Mummy or Benecio Del Toro’s turn as The Wolfman, we have yet to really have a modern take on Frankenstein, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, Dr. Jeckyll & Mr Hyde, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or any of the others. 

I think the name is fine, I don’t see the confusion, and I also don’t see Justice League Dark coming out anytime soon anyway. 

*An earlier version of this story failed to note that Warner’s wants to rename Justice League Dark to Dark Universe.