The Universal Monster series was essentially the first cinematic Universe. Beginning with Dracula in 1931, the overlapping series ran until 1948 with the Abbott and Costello parody, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Of course, Creature from the Black Lagoon would come along in 1954, but it never shared the same space as the core five - Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, and the Wolf Man.