The long-awaited and fan favorite franchise of “The Mummy” is set for a return, and even more exciting, Brendan Fraser is back to star in the new feature. Along with Fraser, series star Rachel Weisz is also in talks to return.
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The Hollywood Reporter divulged the news, stating that a “source” informed them the new film would be a direct sequel and would retcon the events of the third film.
“One source describes the project as not a reboot, but rather a sequel that would disregard the events of the third movie.”
“Brendan Fraser, who led the trio of movies made between 1999 and 2008, and Rachel Weisz, who starred in the first two, are in talks to star in a new Mummy sequel.
“Radio Silence is set to direct. The filmmaking team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett broke through with the clever and fun horror movie Ready or Not in 2019 and are known for helping revitalize the Scream franchise with a pair of movies in 2022 and 2023.”
According to the report, “Ready or Not” filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are set to bring back “The Mummy.” They also famously helped to “reboot” the “Scream” franchise, as they worked on the self-titled film that was released in 2022, and the highly-popular “Scream 4” sequel.
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“The Mummy’ was a massive hit in the late 1990s, with the first film released in 1999. Fraser starred as Rick O’Connell, where he meets Evelyn Carnahan (Weisz), and they band together to find Hamunaptra and accidentally resurrect the evil sorcerer Imhotep, who becomes The Mummy and is hellbent on ending the world.
The original film, which was a remake of the classic Universal Monsters film, rocketed to $422.5 million worldwide box office haul on a $80 million budget. This led to “The Mummy Returns,” which was released in 2001, and brought back O’Connell, Evelyn, and the evil Imhotep.
The sequel was also a hit, grossing $435 million at the worldwide box office. This led to “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” in 2008, and still managed to bring in $405.8 million despite being seven years removed from the first sequel.
“The Mummy” helped Fraser become an A-list star, though he fell out of the limelight due to the deeply physical nature of the action films he was thrust into during the early 2000s. Following a break from the Hollywood limelight, the beloved star found his footing again by starring in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” and landing a Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Charlie.
With the Fraser Renaissance being a huge hit online the last few years, fans have begged for the fan-favorite Rick O’Connell to make a return, and that will now be the case.
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