Universal Classic Monsters (also known as Universal Monsters and Universal Studios Monsters) is a media franchise based on a series of horror films primarily produced by Universal Pictures from the 1930s to the 1950s. Although not initially conceived as a franchise, the enduring popularity and legacy of the films and the characters featured in them has led the studio to market them under the collective brand name of Universal Studios Monsters.[1] Steve Jones of USA Today described Universal's most famous monsters as "pop culture icons", specifically Dracula, Frankenstein, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Mummy, and the Wolf Man.[2][3]^{[unreliable source?]}

Universal Classic Monsters
Official franchise logo as displayed on home video releases
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Country	United States

Merchandising

After the Universal horror films were syndicated to television, this led to a rise in the popularity of merchandise based on Frankenstein's monster and Dracula.[4] Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, the Universal monsters were promoted via merchandizing which included: Halloween costumes, Aurora model kits, paperback novelizations, makeup how-to manuals, T-shirt iron-ons, posters, trading cards, and more.[5] Since 1991, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Parks & Resorts have featured characters from the Universal Classic Monsters franchise. From 2006 to 2014, the characters also appeared in the year-round walk-through attraction, Universal's House of Horrors, at Universal Studios Hollywood. The franchise is also the central theme of Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show. The live show opened in 1990 at Universal Studios Florida and is still in operation.[6] Merchandizing of the characters in formats such as clothing and board games has continued into the 21st century.[7][8]

Home video line

Louis Feola was the head of Worldwide Home Video for Universal Studios and said in 1999 that "a couple of years ago" he decided to "reinvigorate and re-market" Universal's Classic Monsters catalog which included the series Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Phantom of the Opera, The Wolf Man, and The Mummy.[1] In 1992, in an interview with Billboard, Feola stated that to market and sell home video, the most important thing was the packaging of their sales which was "probably our single biggest priority and has been for a number of years", and that it was key to make the series of films "look like a line".[9]

In 1995, MCA/Universal released a collection of the films on home video under the title "The Universal Studios Monsters Classic Collection".[10] This series included Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon series.[10] A collection of stamps featuring Universal Classic Monsters were also released in September 1997 titled "Universal Classic Movie Monsters series".[11] Other characters included in the series included the Mummy, Frankenstein's monster (Boris Karloff), Phantom of the Opera (Lon Chaney) and the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.).[12]

Films

The columns show the subsequent home video releases.

Universal Studios Monsters films

Year	Title	The Classic Collection (1991–94)	Classic Monster Collection (1999)	The Legacy Collection (2004)	Universal Classic Monsters			Ref(s)
					Essential Collection (2012)	Complete Collection (2018)	Peacock Collection (2021–Present)
1931	Dracula							[13][14][15][16][17][18]
	Dracula (Spanish)							[13][14][15][16][17][19]
	Frankenstein							[20][21][22][16][17][23]
1932	Murders in the Rue Morgue							[24][25]
	The Mummy							[26][27][28][16][17][29]
	Island of Lost Souls[lower-alpha 1]							[31][32]
1933	The Invisible Man							[33][34][35][16][17][36]
1934	The Black Cat							[37][36]
1935	The Bride of Frankenstein							[38][39][22][16][17][40]
	Werewolf of London							[41][42][17][43]
	The Raven							[44][45]
1936	Dracula's Daughter							[46][15][17][47]
1939	Son of Frankenstein							[48][22][17][49]
	Tower of London							[50][51]
1940	The Invisible Man Returns							[52][35][17][53]
	The Mummy's Hand							[54][28][17][55]
	The Invisible Woman							[56][35][17][57]
1941	The Monster and the Girl[lower-alpha 1]							[58][59]
	Man-Made Monster							[60][61]
	The Wolf Man							[62][63][42][16][17][64]
1942	The Ghost of Frankenstein							[65][22][17][66]
	Invisible Agent							[67][35][17][68]
	The Mummy's Tomb							[69][28][17][70]
1943	Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man							[71][42][17][72]
	Captive Wild Woman							[73][74]
	Phantom of the Opera							[75][76][16][17][77]
	Son of Dracula							[78][15][17][79]
	The Mad Ghoul							[80][81]
1944	The Invisible Man's Revenge							[82][35][17][83]
	The Mummy's Ghost							[84][28][17][85]
	House of Frankenstein							[86][22][17][87]
	The Mummy's Curse							[88][28][17][89]
1945	House of Dracula							[90][15][17][91]
1946	House of Horrors							[92][93]
	She-Wolf of London							[42][17][94]
1948	Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein							[17][95]
1951	Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man							[17][96]
1954	Creature from the Black Lagoon							[97][98][99][16][17][100]
1955	Revenge of the Creature							[101][99][17][102]
	Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy							[17][103]
1956	The Creature Walks Among Us							[104][99][17][105]

Legacy

After the success of the 1999 film The Mummy, Universal spent the next decade attempting to reboot their classic monsters with films such as Van Helsing (2004), The Wolfman (2010) and Dracula Untold (2014). 2017's The Mummy reboot starring Tom Cruise was an attempt to establish a "Dark Universe" series comparable to Marvel's Cinematic Universe.[106] Following the failure of The Mummy, Universal scrapped the Dark Universe and returned to standalone features, starting with The Invisible Man (2020).[107] The success of popular crossover series has led to reassessments of Universal's monster films to be among "the earliest cinematic universes" starting with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.[106][108][109][110]

References

Sources

• McCullaugh, Jim (October 24, 1992). "Sell-Thru Sales Judged by Cover". Billboard. Vol. 104, no. 43.
• Nye, Doug (August 18, 1995). "Horror films making a comeback". The News-Press. p. 6.
• Kiss, Dr. Robert J. (2019). "Son of Dracula: The Release History". Son of Dracula. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-62933-430-1.
• Rhodes, Gary D. (2014). Tod Browning's Dracula. Tomahawk Press. ISBN 978-0-9566834-5-8.
• Mank, Gregory William (2010). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, with a Complete Filmography of Their Films Together. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786454723.
• Weaver, Tom; Brunas, Michael; Brunas, John (2007) [1990]. Universal Horrors (2 ed.). McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-2974-5.
• Jones, Steve (October 5, 2012). "'Dracula', 'Frankenstein' in new Universal Blu-ray set". USA Today. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
• Early, Rosalind; Malkowicz, Tom (October 16, 2017). "Frankenstein's Monster in Popular Culture". Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
• Murray, Noel; Phipps, Keith (October 25, 2012). "A Guide to the Universal Studios Monster Movies, 1925–1955". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
• Reimann (February 26, 2020). "The Strange History of the Universal Monsters Franchise". Collider. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
• Brooks, Nicholas (February 26, 2021). "How Universal's Classic Monsters Launched the Cinematic Universe". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
• Young, Rob (October 16, 2015). "The Original Shared Universe: A Look Back At the Universal Monsters". Retrieved July 18, 2021.

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