00:00It's happening. Like, it's actually happening.
00:03Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for this?
00:06I can, like, feel my power growing.
00:09There was a brief lull after Halloween, but then, wouldn't you know it,
00:12the movie gods come along and go,
00:15hey, it's looking at you, kid, and drop a delicious morsel of news that, um,
00:21may just make by 2025?
00:24Is that sad? I don't think it's sad. Let's get into it.
00:27So, yeah, if it wasn't immediately clear by the thumbnail-headline combo,
00:33then, yeah, we are getting a new Mummy movie,
00:36and, yes, it will see the return of Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.
00:42AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
00:44In fact, what am I even doing? One sec.
00:48Ah, well, this is clearly much more appropriate.
00:50Enough rambling, let's get into it.
00:52News broke late on Tuesday that Radio Silence,
00:56the nom de guerre of directorial duo Matt Betteleni-Ulpin and Tyler Gillette,
01:01would be developing a legacy Mummy sequel for Universal
01:04that will see the return of Fraser and Weisz to the franchise.
01:08Fraser and Weisz of course led The Mummy and The Mummy Returns
01:12under director Stephen Summers in 1999 and 2001, respectively.
01:16A gloriously action-inspired take on the original Universal Horror,
01:22with Fraser also returning for 2008's Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,
01:26although the less said about that one, the better.
01:30It's pretty bad.
01:31This is a huge deal for a whole bunch of reasons.
01:35First, it means we've reached stage 5 of Fraser's big comeback
01:39and ultimate quest for critical box office and global domination.
01:43Two, it's being helmed by the makers
01:46in one of the more successful legacy sequels in recent years,
01:49namely Scream 5.
01:51And three, well, it's the return of the most iconic on-screen pairing
01:55of the last several decades.
01:57So, not only are we getting more of the thing we all love,
02:01there's a strong chance it might actually be good.
02:05I know, the prospect of a good Universal Horror movie in 2025.
02:11What timeline even is this?
02:12Am I even real?
02:14Are you real?
02:16What is happening right now?
02:18Sorry, I said before that there would be no more ramblings,
02:20but let's get into the detailed write-up provided by The Hollywood Reporter
02:24that breaks all this down and also includes a few juicy details
02:29about how this planned sequel may also be doing a bit of cheeky continuity reshuffling.
02:35As the article goes, quote,
02:37Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are in talks to star in a new Mummy sequel.
02:43Hell yeah.
02:43Radio Silence is set to direct.
02:46The filmmaking team of Matt Bettinelli-Ulpin and Tyler Gillette
02:49broke through with the clever and fun horror movie Ready or Not in 2019
02:54and are known for helping revitalize the Scream franchise
02:58with a pair of movies in 2022 and 2023.
03:02One source describes the project as not a reboot,
03:06but rather a sequel that would disregard the events of the third movie,
03:10that being Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
03:12David Cogshaw wrote the screenplay.
03:14And lastly, the typical bog-standard, Universal had no comment.
03:18Now, the article also mentions that discussions around a potential Mummy return for Fraser
03:24started in the wake of his Academy Award win for The Whale.
03:27So, whatever you think of that movie,
03:30hey, it looks like it may have gotten us a new Mummy film,
03:33which is pretty fantastic.
03:35Fraser has, of course, gone from strength to strength in recent years
03:38following a long period spent away from Hollywood,
03:41following The Whale with an appearance in Martin Scorsese's Close of the Flower Moon in 2023.
03:46He'll also feature in the upcoming Rental Family
03:49and is also set to play Dwight D. Eisenhower
03:52in the upcoming British D-Day drama, Pressure,
03:55which is all about the weather and meteorological aspects
03:58that went into the D-Day plans
04:00and sounds very much up my alley.
04:03I'm looking forward to watching that.
04:04But yeah, in terms of personal speculation and wants for this new Mummy film,
04:09I really hope we get John Hanna back as Jonathan.
04:12He's such an underrated but core part of those movies.
04:16And yeah, let's get him back.
04:18And as for the whole Mummy of it all,
04:20well, that's an interesting dilemma.
04:22Obviously, it would be great to see Arnold Vosloo back,
04:25but maybe it's time for a different Mummy.
04:28I don't know if that's sacrilegious to say or not,
04:30because I love, love, love him in those films.
04:33But I don't know, maybe, maybe bringing Imhotep back for a third go around
04:38would be a little contrived.
04:41I don't know.
04:42There was, of course, an attempt to shift gears like that
04:44with Steven with the Dragon Emperor,
04:46and it didn't really work.
04:48So I think keeping this film rooted in Egypt would make much more sense.
04:53Which may be the direction already being taken
04:55if talk of Radio Silence ignoring that third film is correct.
05:00There's obviously so much that goes into the atmosphere of the Mummy
05:03that comes with the ancient Egyptian approach to life and death
05:07that you don't really get from other ancient cultures,
05:09even if there are certain commonalities in afterlife preparation
05:13and other stuff like that.
05:15Oh, God, how could I forget that we absolutely need Oded Fair back
05:19as Ardeth Bey, too?
05:20Like, Fraser and Bice are obviously the core of these movies as Rick and Evelyn,
05:25but there is a clear trifecta with Ardeth as well.
05:28I just need to see him chopping mummies down with his cool-ass sword
05:31and mowing them down with his Tommy gun like...
05:33I'm a simple man, what can I say?
05:38As far as settings and timelines go,
05:40with a 20-year gap like this,
05:42there's some potential for World War II
05:44or some other immediate post-war baggage to get thrown into the mix.
05:48There's the question of Rick and Evee's son, Alex,
05:52what adventures they've all gotten up to
05:54in the years since The Moon Returns happened.
05:56Yeah, so much for Cogshill's script to play with,
05:59and it's really exciting.
06:01There's also a discussion to be had
06:03about the overall horror and action balance here.
06:06Stephen Summers was fully enmeshed in that genre fusion,
06:10but Radio Silence are more known for explicit horror than anything else.
06:15You'd expect this new film to still maintain the vibes
06:17that made the original film so successful,
06:20but I do wonder if we'll be skewing closer
06:22to the goopy terror of the first film
06:25than the more kid-friendly flying ship stuff
06:28we got in the next two sequels.
06:30All I'm saying is we've got to bring back
06:32the eyeball-munching, soul-sucking crunchiness
06:35of that first film.
06:37Go as practical as possible
06:39and avoid the pitfalls that came with The Mummy Returns,
06:42like, you know, goopy CGI Dwayne Johnson.
06:47Ah, what a time to be alive.
06:48But yeah, honestly, what a lovely and unexpected surprise
06:52to come our way pretty much out of nowhere.
06:55Radio Silence are a great team.
06:57Scream and Ready or Not are both great times at the movies,
07:00and after years pouring,
07:02trying to get a new dark universe going,
07:05even making a mummy movie with Tom Cruise a few years back
07:08that is more famous for its botched trailer than anything else,
07:12yeah, it's just refreshing to see Universal
07:14give the kids what they want this time.
07:16There's just such a general swell of goodwill and energy
07:20around those mummy movies online,
07:22and if everything is leveraged well for this sequel,
07:26this could be a huge hit for everyone involved.
07:30Either way, let me know what you all think
07:31of this mummy news down in the comments below.
07:34Are you happy?
07:35Anxious?
07:36Are you already strategizing a comeback for Van Helsing?
07:40Share your hopes and dreams, theories and visions,
07:42drop the video a like if you enjoyed it,
07:44and subscribe to Wild Culture for more fresh-baked content
07:47like this every single day.
07:49I've been Ewan,
07:49I need to go have a lie down now,
07:52and I'll hopefully see you next time.
07:54Emo tap.
07:57Emo tap.
08:00Emo tap.
08:03Bye.
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