Director Len Wiseman’s remake of The Mummy to be a modern-day “epic horror film”

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Recently, it was announced that director Len Wiseman would be taking on Universal’s franchise for THE MUMMY, but other than that we knew very little.  Initially called a reboot, it now seems to be more of a re-imagining.  Speaking to MovieWeb, Wiseman had this to say about the new take on the long-running franchise and if there was any hesitation from the studio in hiring him after the failure of his reboot of TOTAL RECALL:

“There was skepticism. The difference between the two, if THE MUMMY is to be the next movie for me, is that THE MUMMY is a completely different film. It is a modern day take. It doesn’t have anything to do with the Brendan Fraser films, and it is not a remake of any kind,” said Wiseman. 

He went on, touching on the historical precedence of The Mummy, most famously played by Boris Karloff in 1932:

“THE MUMMY is one of Universal’s long standing, iconic characters, well before the Brendan Fraser movies… This is such a different thing. What was attractive to me…There is still a script to be written, and all of that….But the pitch was to go with a much different tone. It was a Mummy like I’d never heard of before. Its nothing like what you would expect, at all, oddly. I was picturing Egypt, and the sand swept settings. The mummy wrappings. When I heard what they were wanting to actually do with it, it was shocking…”

Wiseman added: “It’s horror. Its epic. It’s more of a modern day version of what would happen if we came across a mummy in our world today. It is pretty fascinating.”

So, a modern-day horror flick centered on a Mummy.  I can dig it, I suppose.  In all honesty, I’m not exactly dying to see a new Mummy movie, but I’m glad they’re not making a carbon copy of the Brendan Fraser films, which were stupid, fun, and cheesy as hell.  This sounds like a more bold direction.  Hopefully, Wiseman will find room for his lovely wife, Kate Beckinsale, in the remake/reimagining, as she tends to be the best thing about his movies. 

More as this develops.

Go ahead…just give me a reason to post a picture of Kate Beckinsale…