Horror And that was an Oscar night for the dark genre

[Jethro]

Get Out got a gong, was expecting a few more, and The Shape of Water took out four

Okay while most horror sites won't count them as dark genre, we do! Congrats to all involved and about time del Toro scored something after a bunch of above average ghostly outings.

Still trying to figure out if Shape of Water is a prelude to The Creature from the Black Lagoon or has nothing whatever to do with it.

 

[Tom]

Still trying to figure out if Shape of Water is a prelude to The Creature from the Black Lagoon or has nothing whatever to do with it.

I'm thinking it has to do with a backstory origin of Abe Sapien for the Hellboy reboot.
I'm probably wrong but who knows?
Right now, I think the Universal movie series based on The Dark Universe is in trouble due to the reception issues with the Mummy remake? The Creature from the Black Lagoon remake may not happen. There are a few other remakes scheduled for The Dark Universe before the creature makes another appearance on the big screen.
The Hellboy remake is already underway and expected to be released in January 2019.

ScreenRant shoots me down;

some fans have developed a theory that The Shape of Water could be an unofficial prequel, perhaps tying in or some twisted blessing of the David Harbour Hellboy film due in 2019, and that del Toro’s negative claims are legally necessary since Abe Sapien and the rest of the Hellboy franchise are copyrighted material. Perhaps “the Asset” is the same species as Abe (ichthyo sapien) or The Shape of Water takes place in some sort of parallel universe. Unfortunately, that notion seems to only exist within the fandom.

However, Guillermo del Toro has said that the creature in The Shape of Water was inspired by the titular monster from The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Abe’s backstory parallels some background events of the film. For instance, Abe Sapien was sealed in a glass tube, filled with water, during the Civil War in the basement of St. Trinian’s hospital in D.C. In 1978, he was rediscovered by some plumbers; he was initially examined by the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and would have been vivisected if Hellboy hadn’t stepped in. Similarly, The Shape of Water begins with the Asset confined to a glass tube, filled with water, in a government facility in Baltimore in 1962. While the cities and years are slightly different, the Cold War, the bureaucratic setting plays a major role in both stories.

 

[Jethro]

Yeah the Dark Universe is apparently dead in the water, writes have moved to other projects and the next movie Bride of Frankenstein has been cancelled.

Think the major problem was letting Timmy Cruise anywhere near the Universe, he did in the Jack Reacher franchise as well, seriously Cruise as the hulking Reacher!!!!!!

 

[Kevin]

Think the major problem was letting Timmy Cruise anywhere near the Universe, he did in the Jack Reacher franchise as well, seriously Cruise as the hulking Reacher!!!!!!

I actually thought the first Jack Reacher movie wasn't bad.

The second one, however, it was obvious that Cruise was given "creative control" over the character.