When THE MUMMY reboot was announced, we were skeptical. When Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were announced as producers, we got nervous. When Len Wiseman was named director, we flipped the f*ck out. We needed a change from the Stephen Sommers CGI-fest, not another mid-level director trying to make a mediocre monster movie. Well, at least Wiseman dropped out, but who could come in to direct THE MUMMY?
The replacement appears to be MAMA director Andres Muschietti. The Hollywood Reporter says Muschietti is in talks to direct Universal's second reboot of THE MUMMY franchise and the first since the Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz movies. The new reboot will not take place in the 1920s as the Boris Karloff 1932 film and the 1999 reboot did but will be updated to be set in the 21st century. The only details we have are that the film will be an "action-adventure tentpole with horror elements" with new characters.
Muschietti gained the attention of Guillermo Del Toro with his creepy short titled MAMA which was made into a successful feature starring Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. That film had a nice horror feel to it, something I hope beyond hope will be brought back to THE MUMMY. I really enjoyed the first Brendan Fraser movie as it was a fun INDIANA JONES adventure movie, but it was not THE MUMMY I was expecting. Both of the sequels were weaker than their predecessors and a reboot is needed badly.
THE MUMMY reboot has no set date, but if a director is being chosen, we may see it as early as 2015.