Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are reuniting for another “Mummy” adventure.
Filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who call themselves Radio Silence, are set to direct the fourth installment in the decades-old action franchise. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are best known for 2019’s “Ready or Not” and reviving the “Scream” franchise for Paramount in 2022.
Universal, the studio behind the original monster movies, had no comment.
Fraser led the 1999 reboot of “The Mummy,” which co-starred Weisz and became a box office hit. The blockbuster — which follows a treasure hunter who accidentally awakens a cursed Egyptian priest with supernatural powers — also cemented Fraser as a bankable action hero. He returned for two sequels, 2001’s “The Mummy Returns” and 2008’s “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” though Weisz only appeared in the former. Universal attempted to resurrect “The Mummy” with Tom Cruise in 2017, but to no avail. The film was a commercial misfire and failed to kick off the studio’s so-called “Dark Universe,” which was intended to utilize Universal’s catalogue of classic monsters for a series of interconnected adventures.
After stepping away from Hollywood due to personal issues, health problems and an assault allegation that he leveled against the former HFPA president, Fraser enjoyed a major career comeback with 2022’s “The Whale,” for which he earned the Oscar for best actor. During the press cycle for “The Whale,” Fraser told Variety that he’d be open to revisiting his most popular role, adventurer Rick O’Connell, in another “Mummy” sequel.
“I don’t know how it would work,” he said at the time. “But I’d be open to it, if someone came up with the right conceit.”
Fraser at least has an idea of what won’t work. Back in 2022, he dissected why Cruise’s take on “The Mummy” failed to connect with audiences.
“It is hard to make that movie,” Fraser said. “The ingredient that we had going for our ‘Mummy,’ which I didn’t see in the new one, was fun. That was what was lacking in that incarnation. It was too much of a straight-ahead horror movie. ‘The Mummy’ should be a thrill ride, but not terrifying and scary.”
