Not long ago, we learned that Universal had made the curious decision to reboot THE MUMMY, tasking PROMETHEUS writer Jon Spaights with the screenplay. If you doubted the legitimacy of the revelation, today’s update will see to that… plus add another WTF?
The studio has handed the reigns to THE MUMMY – and VAN HELSING – to Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, both of whom will produce the features under their K/O Paper Products banner. The duo, best known for scripting TRANSFORMERS and STAR TREK, recently signed a two-year deal with Universal, and these are the first projects they are set to tackle.
There’s a little more: Tom Cruise is attached to play Van Helsing. Of course, Hugh Jackman played the notorious vampire killer in the 2004 Stephen Sommers version, and while that was widely seen as a debacle, it still made a not-bad $300 million worldwide; it also had surprisingly good fortune on home video. However, with Cruise still proving to be a gigantic movie star (especially internationally), this re-do should blow that out of the water… Provided it’s not as big of a turkey as its predecessor.
And speaking of money, the Brendan Fraser-led MUMMY franchise grossed over $1 billion worldwide, so there’s no doubt that Universal is hoping to recapture some of that black magic. Now they just have to find directors for their remakes.
VAN HELSING’s Kate Beckinsale