The 2017 version of The Mummy was supposed to kick off a new cinematic universe at Universal Pictures – a Dark Universe that would consist of interconnected reboots of their classic monster properties. Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Creature from the Black Lagoon, they were all coming back, and they were all going to be crossing paths with each other. The crossovers had even started in The Mummy, with the appearance of Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde) and nods to other monsters. But Universal pumped so much money into The Mummy, its global box office haul of $410 million was considered a disappointment. The studio has since moved forward with a reboot of The Invisible Man, a couple new Dracula movies (Renfield and The Last Voyage of the Demeter), a Dracula’s Daughter movie (Abigail), and a reboot of Wolf Man (which is now filming), but none of these movies have been connected to each other, and there’s been no talk of further Mummy adventures… until today. Industry scooper Daniel Richtman has revealed on his Patreon account that a prequel to The Mummy is now in the works!
Here’s what Richtman said: “The Mummy PREQUEL movie now in development at Universal with Wes Tooke writing the script.“
That’s all the information we have to go on at this time. Richtman didn’t even specify which Mummy movie this project might be a prequel to. It seems unlikely that Universal would return to the story of their Dark Universe killer from 2017, so this probably isn’t going to dig into the history of Sofia Boutella’s Ahmanet character. So will it be a prequel to the 1932 original? The 1999 film starring Brendan Fraser? Since Fraser has been enjoying a career resurgence in recent years, including an Oscar win for his performance in The Whale, some fans have been hoping we might see him return to the Mummy franchise for a fourth film, following The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. (There were plans for a film called The Mummy: Rise of the Aztec at one point, but that was scrapped in favor of the Dark Universe idea.) But since this is a prequel of some kind, we probably won’t be seeing Brendan Fraser back in the role of Rick O’Connell.
Screenwriter Wes Tooke only has a few credits to his name: an episode of Jean-Claude Van Johnson, episodes of Colony, and the 2019 Roland Emmerich film Midway. Three and a half years ago, it was announced that Tooke was working with producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller and star Channing Tatum on “a modern day, tongue in cheek thriller” that was inspired by Universal’s classic monster movies, but we never heard anything more about that project.
What do you think of the idea of a prequel to The Mummy? Which Mummy would you like to see a prequel to? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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