Universal Monsters
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Universal Monsters are part of a fictional universe created by Universal Studios in a number of famous horror films. It started with the 1925 film version of The Phantom of the Opera, and continued to encompass such movies as Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. Universal Monsters universe is generally considered a part of the Wold Newton Universe.
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[edit] Monsters
- The Phantom of the Opera
- Dracula
- Frankenstein's monster
- Fritz the Hunchback
- The Mummy (Imhotep)
- The Invisible Man (Dr. Jack Griffin)
- The Bride of Frankenstein
- Ygor the Hunchback/Igor
- The Wolf Man (Lawrence Talbot)
- The Invisible Man Returns (Geoffrey Radcliffe)
- Creature from the Black Lagoon (Gill Man)
[edit] Merchandising
Long after the films were made, even well after their premiere broadcasting on U.S. television, many knicknacks were offered for sale with the features of these characters on them. Universal particularly held to the copyrighting of their depiction of Frankenstein's monster.
The first significant merchandising of these characters was the 1961 introduction of the plastic model kit of Frankensein's monster by the now-defunct Aurora company. In the next few years there followed models of Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon before the series switched to generic or characters from other firms, though there was a Bride of Frankenstein model in 1965. These hollow statues were quite popular among American boys, it being well before there were any "action figurines" (dolls for boys) at all.
Later, fully assembled figurines and caricatures were offered by Universal more directly.