Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz to star in new sequel to ‘The Mummy’
The two starred in the hit 1999 movie and its 2001 sequel 'The Mummy Returns'
by Max Pilley · NMEBrendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are reportedly set to star in a new sequel to The Mummy.
The two actors starred in the 1999 film and its 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns, while Fraser also returned for a third film The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor in 2008.
Now, it appears that they may be returning to the franchise, with The Hollywood Reporter saying that they are in talks to star in a new sequel, with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the team known for Ready Or Not and 2022’s Scream, set to direct.
Universal Pictures, who made the previous films, have not confirmed the reports.
The 1999 film was a remake of the classic 1932 Boris Karloff movie and starred Fraser as Rick O’Connell, a treasure hunter who travelled to the City of the Dead with Weisz’s librarian Evelyn Carnahan and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah), where they accidentally awakened a supernatural high priest.
The film was a major success, grossing over $420million against a budget of $80million to become the sixth highest grossing film of 1999. As well as the two sequels, it also spawned the prequel The Scorpion King, one of the first lead roles for Dwayne Johnson, in 2002.
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Universal attempted to rejuvenate the franchise with a 2017 reboot starring Tom Cruise as a US soldier who accidentally unearthed the ancient tomb of an Egyptian princess (Sofia Boutella). That film was critically panned and lost money, despite grossing over $400million worldwide, and the intended spinoff universe was abandoned.
As well as the rumoured new Fraser and Weisz film, there is also a separate Mummy film in production by horror studio Blumhouse Productions, set to star Jack Reynor (Midsommar, Sing Street) and directed by Lee Cronin (The Hole In The Ground, Evil Dead Rise). It will be the first film in the Mummy franchise not to be produced by Universal or Hammer and it is set to be released in April 2026.
Fraser’s career was revitalised by his Oscar-winning turn in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale in 2022, and he is set to play President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Pressure, a film about the three days leading up to the Normandy landings in World War II.