Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz reunite for a new ‘Mummy’ adventure.
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillette, the filmmakers who call themselves “Radio Silence,” are set to direct the fourth installment of the decades-long action series. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillette are best known for 2019’s “Ready or Not” and for reviving the “Scream” series at Paramount in 2022.
Universal, the studio that produced the original monster movie, has not commented.
Fraser co-starred Wise in the 1999 reboot of the box office hit “Hamunaptra.” This blockbuster, which followed a treasure hunter who accidentally awakens a cursed Egyptian priest with supernatural powers, established Fraser as a lucrative action hero. He returned for two sequels, 2001’s The Mummy Returns and 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, although Wise only appeared in the former. Universal tried to revive Hamunaptra starring Tom Cruise in 2017, but it failed. The film was a commercial failure and failed to launch the studio’s so-called “Dark Universe,” which aims to utilize Universal’s catalog of classic monsters into a series of interconnected adventures.
After leaving Hollywood due to personal issues, health issues and assault allegations against a former HFPA president, Fraser made a major comeback in his career with 2022’s The Whale, which won him an Oscar for Best Actor. During the press cycle for The Whale, Fraser told Variety that he would be open to reprising his role as the most popular adventurer Rick O’Connell in another Mummy sequel.
“I don’t know how it’s going to work out,” he said at the time. “But if someone comes up with the right conceit, I’ll accept it.”
Fraser at least has an idea of what could go wrong. Back in 2022, he analyzed why Cruise’s take on Hamunaptra failed to resonate with audiences.
“It’s hard to make that movie,” Fraser said. “It was fun, which is what I was looking for in Hamunaptra that I didn’t see in the new film. That’s what it lacked. It was too much of a straight horror movie. Hamunaptra is supposed to be a thrill ride, but it’s not horrifying.”
