Radio Silence Tapped To Reunite Brendan Fraser And Rachel Weisz For THE MUMMY 4
The trades are out on Tuesday with word that Brendan Fraser (The Whale) and Rachel Weisz (Black Widow) will reprise their roles in a fourth installment of The Mummy saga that began in 1999. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, a.k.a. Radio Silence (Ready Or Not, Scream) will direct the film for Universal Pictures.
Stephen Sommers revived the classic IP with his own take inspired by Karl Freund’s 1932 film, casting Fraser and Weisz for a desert-trotting swashbuckling saga of a former soldier and a beautiful Egyptologist who set out to investigate the mysteries of Egypt’s ruins. In the first film, their journey results in the haphazard revival of the cursed and vengeful Imhotep – played by Arnold Vosloo – who aims to unleash hell on Earth. The films also featured John Hannah, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velásquez, Alun Armstrong, and Shaun Parkes among others.
The success of that film and its sequel, The Mummy Returns, carried into Chuck Russell’s 2002 prequel, The Scorpion King – tied to the second film – which explores the titular character played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson before going the DTV route for its own sequels. Rob Cohen (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) directed the studio’s 2008 canonical third installment, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor, casting Fraser alongside actress Maria Bello in place of Weisz, in addition to martial arts superstars Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. It would be roughly a decade before Universal would attempt a “Dark Universe” reboot of The Mummy starring Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe, which conked out at the box office.
Read more at Deadline.
