Could we see the return of Rick O’Connell to the big screen? Should Universal Pictures decided to revisit that version ofThe Mummyfranchise, Brendan Fraser is down to revive his ancient artifact hunting, monster dueling action hero. Now the real question becomes, could this really happen?
First, let’s dig into what was said.Brendan Fraser, who is currently starring inDoom Patrolon DC Universe, was asked about revisitingThe Mummyfranchise, which he first starred in 20 years ago. The actor enthusiastically declared he would be happy to revisit the franchise, but there is one major condition of his return. Here’s what Fraser had to say about it.
“Absolutely! Just gotta say, I know how hard it is to make that movie. I tried to do it three times, and the essential ingredient is fun. You gotta remember to have fun. So if there’s a fun way to approach it again, I’m all in.”
There is a lot of love for 1999’s Stephen Sommers-directedThe Mummyout there and indeed, fun has a big part to play in that. Hollywood, in the modern era, is largely still obsessed with gritty reboots and/or cinematic universes. Case in point, we hadTom Cruise’s The Mummyin 2017, which was meant to kick off a new era for the Universal Monsters with the Dark Universe. Needless to say, that didn’t go according to plan, as the movie was a critical bomb and Universal scrapped plans for the Dark Universe after just one entry.
2017’sThe Mummygrossed $409 million globally and tanked domestically. On the other side of the coin, Brendan Fraser’s first entry made $415 million and sparked a trilogy that made more than $1.25 billion at the global box office. Plus, it led toThe Scorpion King spin-off, which served as Dwayne Johnson’s first major leading movie role, after he first appeared in The Mummy Returns, via some memorably horrific CGI. In any event, even by modern standards and without adjusting for inflation,The Mummyfranchise, under Fraser’s watch, was highly successful. It also doesn’t hurt that Rachel Weisz, who stars as Evelyn Carnahan in the series, has been having something of a major resurgence lately following her turn in last year’sThe Favourite.
Currently, Universal isworking with Blumhouse Productions on The Invisible Man. The idea now is to produce low-budget movies based on the classic monsters, assuming this first venture goes well. That could make a fourth Mummy movie in the previous version of the franchise, which has been dormant for 11 years since The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, a tough sell. Then again, Hollywood is fueled by nostalgia these days and if they could put the right pieces of the puzzle together, this feels like something that could work. At the very least, Brendan Fraser is happy to take that phone call, should the opportunity arise. This news comes to us viaCinemaBlend.
