Tom Cruise In Talks For The Mummy Reboot
Seems Universal are not aiming low with their planned reboot of their monster movie universe. First we hear they want Scarlett Johansson to star in their ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon’ remake, next we hear they’re pursuing Angelina Jolie Pitt for ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ - and now this.
To take the lead in their 2017 reboot of ‘The Mummy,’ the film intended to kickstart their new monster franchise, they’re entering talks with none other than Tom Cruise, according to Variety.
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A fresh take on the franchise which began in the 1930s, and not related to the more recent Brendan Fraser movies, this reboot of ‘The Mummy’ is to be directed by Alex Kurtzman.
It will be set in the present day, and is rumoured to centre on US soldiers (presumably Cruise among them) in the Middle East who inadvertently awaken an evil mummy - who, again according to rumour, may be female this time.
We might note that this is not the first time Tom Cruise has been linked to a monstrous property at Universal. Years back, he and director Guillermo del Toro were attached to the studio’s ambitious project ‘Van Helsing,’ before Stephen Sommers and Hugh Jackman wound up making it (to lukewarm results).
Then in 2012, the long-standing screen veteran was attached to another del Toro project, HP Lovecraft’s ‘At The Mountains of Madness,’ before the studio cancelled that film - and in recent years he has again been linked to the planned ‘Van Helsing’ reboot.
Given that the new Universal monster movies are intended to overlap and share characters, this has led to speculation that Cruise may indeed be playing Van Helsing or some variation thereon in ‘The Mummy,’ and will return to fight more monsters in future films - although there is nothing to support that claim at present.
‘The Mummy’ is scheduled to hit cinemas on 24 March 24 2017, and Universal have another, as-yet unnamed monster movie set to follow it in March 2018.
Picture Credit: Universal, WENN
