Why the new reboot of The Mummy might be better than you think

Another Mummy RemakeBy Don Kaye, Source: Blastr.com

Just when you thought that the modern version of The Mummy had run out of steam, guess what? It’s being rebooted, of course. But that might not necessarily be a bad thing.

Variety reports that Universal Pictures, which has owned The Mummy since Boris Karloff first wrapped the bandages around himself in 1932, has decided to relaunch the property one more time. The most recent take on it, which kicked off with 1999’s The Mummy, made Brendan Fraser into an action star and was more oriented toward Indiana Jones-like adventure than creepy ancient-walking-corpse chills.

The 1999 movie was a huge hit ($433 million worldwide), and two sequels, 2001’s The Mummy Returns and 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, weren’t too shabby at the box office either. There were also three spinoff Scorpion King films, an animated series and even a Revenge of the Mummy rollercoaster ride.

Now here’s the good news about this reboot: it’s being written by Jon Spaihts, who wrote the two Alien prequels for Ridley Scott that laid the groundwork for the upcoming Prometheus, which was eventually scripted by Damon Lindelof.

Spaihts, whose yet-to-be-produced sci-fi screenplay Passengers landed him on a lot of studios’ watch lists and got him the Alien/Prometheus gig, told Variety, “I see [The Mummy] as the sort of opportunity I had with Prometheus: to go back to a franchise’s roots in dark, scary source material, and simultaneously open it up to an epic scale we haven’t seen before.”

Spaihts also wrote The Darkest Hour (hmm…not so good) and has been working on a script called World War Robot as well as an untitled space movie for producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The guy is definitely doing some high-profile work. Do you think he might come up with an interesting new take on The Mummy? Would you like to see the franchise return to its horror roots and move away from action/adventure?

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