Another holiday season is almost upon, which means another great reason to buy and gift all things books! And there are some truly beautiful offerings from the publishing world this year, such some new illustrated editions of J.R.R. Tolkien works and Game Of Thrones/House Of The Dragon tomes, as well as Star Wars box sets; tie-ins for Star Trek, Stranger Things, and the Marvel and DC universes; graphic novel collections; hard rock and heavy metal memoirs; book-related gifts; fun, pop-culture-themed cookbooks, and much more!

Check out our Holiday Gift Guide 2022 for Books, eBooks, and Audiobooks for our favorite holiday gift picks for the readers in your life.

Things have not gone well early on for Universal’s much-hyped shared world featuring their classic monsters, called the Dark Universe. Their first movie, The Mummy, was released earlier this year. Instead of focusing on what made Universal’s monster movies so great, the horror and tone, they instead opted for an action-heavy, CGI-tainted style. The movie quickly became a financial and critical failure. To make matters worse, the talent Universal had hired to manage this ambitious endeavor began departing, and the future of the Dark Universe was already a big question mark.

But it’s still early. Universal still has time to right the ship if they so choose. And one name fans of the original monster movies believe would be perfect to help steer things away from guaranteed death is none other than Guillermo del Toro (The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak). As it turns out, however, Universal already offered del Toro the chance to work on their monster universe, and he turned it down. Find a quote from del Toro and a video below.

Whether or not you’re excited about Universal’s Classic Monsters shared universe, no one can dispute the fact that they’re going big with the stars in an attempt to make the new franchise as successful as possible.

We already know that Tom Cruise will be starring in their next take on The Mummy, which will also star Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service) in the title role, and now comes word that they studio has landed Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp to lead The Invisible Man for them.