We are ways away from the 2017 film The Mummy, but things are starting to get a little too exciting. Our guest contributor Eric Shaw lets out his excitement for the upcoming Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe-starring franchise reboot.
[dropcap size=small]T[/dropcap]he concept of Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy has been through the ringer. Most of us today hear the title and think of Brendan Fraser, wide-eyed and fleeing ancient Egyptian horrors (and mind you, it’s the only time anyone thinks of Brendan Fraser). But this film concept actually existed long before 1999’s The Mummy. It was first a Universal series in the ‘30s through ‘50s, then a Hammer Film Productions project for 12 years, and then a vehicle for Fraser’s would-be stardom. The only problem is, after the reasonably enjoyable 1999 film, the series fell off a cliff and landed with a thud in the form of the abominable The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor. Said one review in The Shiznit of this finale, “pray that this is a franchise that’s dead for good this time.”
Yikes.
But never fear, Mummy fans—this is Hollywood, and no franchise with the potential for summer popcorn-level action and over-the-top historical fantasy will ever truly die. Sure enough, word started circulating some time ago that Universal was revisiting the idea, and we now know that a new The Mummy is due out in 2017. And while there’s not a trailer just yet, we have to admit that this film actually sounds kind of promising.
For starters, it stars Tom Cruise, and that tends to be a good thing these days. The actor may have lost some of the shine that made him one of Hollywood’s safest bets in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but he’s still very capable of producing box office and critical appeal alike. Cruise will reportedly play ex-Navy SEAL Tyler Colt, and early set photos released by Screenrant indicate we may be introduced to the character in Oxford, England in a bit of a break from the norm. The speculation there is that he’s in town to recruit archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) for an adventurous mission to Egypt, but we can’t quite be sure yet. To be clear, this version of The Mummy will actually take place in the present day.
It’s kind of a bold move for Cruise to sign onto a series with (hopefully) massive potential, given that he’s already attached to one of the more successful action franchises in Hollywood. He’s reportedly signed on for a sixth Mission: Impossible, which means there will almost certainly be some overlap between the two projects. That should be all well and good given that Cruise refuses to age and, as mentioned, still has serious box office clout; but it’s a little bit of an unusual move.
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The film also stars Russell Crowe, which is particularly promising because the actor tends to be at his best when dealing with history. Of course, Gladiator is still the first film that comes to mind in this regard. That film won Crowe the Oscar for Best Actor, and it remains incredibly popular to this day, frequently showing on television and receiving its own online slot arcade game. The casino titles at Gala frequently invoke popular modern fiction (like Avengers films, for instance) and they still include a Gladiator game, capitalizing on the film’s enduring popularity with screenshots and music from the production. But this wasn’t Crowe’s only successful history film—just his most memorable. In the likes of Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World, Cinderella Man, and 3:10 To Yuma, the actor has shown he’s at his best when playing with previous eras.
In this particular film, Crowe has been cast curiously as Dr. Henry Jekyll, the iconic literary character from Robert Louis Stevenson (who incidentally is also the subject of a popular online game). The fusing of the Jekyll and Hyde tale with The Mummy is bizarre, but certainly interesting. And it seems to speak to the idea that Universal is apparently looking to build a sprawling monster saga with crossovers and future ensemble efforts in the spirit of modern superhero cinema.
The basic plot of The Mummy will be familiar, with an ancient Egyptian queen (Sofia Boutella) awakening from a tomb to wreak havoc. One more note of interest is that it might be more of a horror film than a typical action/adventure saga. That’s according to Crowe, whose comments in Variety specifically indicated that the film is designed to “seriously scare the s— out of you.” Accordingly, Jon Spaiths wrote the script. He previously penned the creepier-than-expected Prometheus and this summer’s Doctor Strange, which is expected to be Marvel’s first real flirtation with horror.
That about covers everything we know at this stage. The way the last series flamed out in addition to how Hollywood historical epics tend to be overreaching lately, it may be that a reboot of The Mummy won’t get people particularly excited. But it seems to be playing to the strengths of Cruise and Crowe, and that counts for something.
