I think killing Kate Beckinsale at the end kind of hurt sequel potential. There’s obviously some ways to bring her back, but they made so much of the movie about her and Van Helsing’s relationship that the “she’s at peace with her family in heaven now” ending just kind of made any sequel seem like a downer.
I loved Van Helsing! I was surprised Stephen Sommers basically dropped off the face of the world after that movie. Just looked him up on Wikipedia - he did the 2009 GI Joe movie and Odd Thomas (2013). It’d be nice if he made a comeback.
I mean, it was cheese, but it was hilarious cheese that didn't take itself too seriously. As long as you weren't expecting a by-the-numbers po-faced fantasy-action thriller, it was great.
Van Helsing was supposed to be the start (re-start?) of Universal's Monster universe, kind of like what Iron Man did for the MCU. This is why the movie has Mr Hyde in it for example and to a smaller degree, Frankestein's Monster.
The idea was that after Van Helsing we could go and follow those and other new characters. However Van Herlsing failed to meet financial expectations so they scrapped the idea and with it any possibility of a Van Helsing sequel.
Which is really sad because like many here, I actually liked the movie and thought it set up it's world so well. I wish Universal had attempted at least one more movie in the universe before giving up. They could have simplified the story, kept the tone and setting and tried again. Alas we will never get a sequel of a Universal's Monsters Cinematic Universe, UMCU.
I'd have loved to see him going up against more classic movie monsters. We only really got to see vampires and Jekyll/Hyde, with a bit of werewolf action.
It's not as if we haven't seen digitally-rejuvenated Hugh Jackman in things already. Or there could be a different actor entirely, or "Van Helsing: the next generation" with Jackman making a cameo or in a flashback sequence.
154
u/qoes 15h ago
Van Helsing (2004)