New Mummy in Universal's Monster Universe Might Be Female
Universal is resurrecting The Mummy as the kickoff to its planned monsters universe. But when it hits theaters (it's slated for March 24, 2017), there could be one noticeable change from director Alex Kurtzman and writer Jon Spaihts: The Mummy may be female, with a unique backstory.
In the 1932 original and the 1999 remake, the monster was male, played by Boris Karloff and Arnold Vosloo, respectively. Sources say the gender of the monster in the new film, which is set in the modern day, likely will depend on casting, expected to happen in the next couple of months. There are two story options — one that would feature a female monster, and one that would feature a male.
Universal's The Mummy is planned as the first film in a series of interconnected monster films as Universal hopes to build a franchise out of its vault of classic movies. Other potential films revolve around the characters of Dracula, Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, the Bride of Frankenstein and vampire hunter Van Helsing.
Tom Cruise's 'The Mummy' Gets New Release Date From Universal
Universal Pictures has moved the release of The Mummy.
The monster movie, which was originally scheduled to bow March 24, 2017, will now open on June 9 of that year. The next film in the Divergent series, Ascendant, and the sequel to Brad Pitt's World War Z also are slated to hit theaters on that date.
The action-adventure will star Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service), and will be directed by Alex Kurtzman from a screenplay penned by Prometheus scribe Jon Spaihts.
Kurtzman will produce the project, along with Chris Morgan and Sean Daniel, with Bobby Cohen acting as executive producer.
The news comes a day after Disney announced that Star Wars: Episode VIII will move off its May 26, 2017, spot to Dec. 15 of that year. The studio moved Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales to open over that Memorial Day weekend in its stead.
Annabelle Wallis in Talks to Join Tom Cruise in 'The Mummy'
Annabelle Wallis, one of the stars of the British gangster drama Peaky Blinders, is in talks to feature opposite Tom Cruise in The Mummy.
The Mummy is being directed by Alex Kurtzman and is planned as the first feature in a series of interconnected monster movies as the studio hopes to build a cinematic universe out of its vault of classic creature features.
Sofia Boutella, who had a breakout role in Kingsman: The Secret Service, is playing the titular role.
The storyline is set in the modern day with Cruise’s character to be a special forces soldier (or former soldier), sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Wallis’ character is to be a scientist.
Kurtzman is producing Mummy with Chris Morgan and Sean Daniel. Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) wrote the screenplay
Executive vp Jon Mone and vp Jay Polidoro will oversee production on behalf of Universal.
Wallis is currently on screen opposite Sasha Baron Cohen in The Brothers Grimsby and will be seen in Guy Richie’s Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur. She also starred in horror thriller Annabelle.
Wallis is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment, Jackoway Tyerman, and UK’s United Agents.
Russell Crowe Joins Tom Cruise's 'The Mummy,' Predicts It Will "Scare the Shit Out of You"
Heading into the Cannes Film Festival to promote his latest buddy comedy The Nice Guys, Russell Crowe found himself amid speculation about two high-profile projects: one coming together, the other coming apart.
"I’m gonna do it,” Crowe told members of the press at a Beverly Hilton roundtable about Universal’s The Mummy, the new reboot starring Tom Cruise and directed by Alex Kurtzman, days after The Hollywood Reporter reported the move. In the film, he plays Dr. Henry Jekyll, Fellow of the Royal Society, opposite Cruise who plays a Navy Seal on a mission to root out terrorists in the Iraqi desert. Crowe counts Cruise as an old friend from when the latter was married to Nicole Kidman. “When he got a divorce I was part of the settlement package and I went to Nicole,” he joked.
The Oscar-winning actor said he was sold on the idea after a chat with Kurtzman, the screenwriter of Transformers. Currently in production, The Mummy is Kurtzman’s second directorial effort after 2012’s People Like Us. “Those kind of creative collaborative conversations, if they’re explosive like that from the first time you start talking, you’re actually into a really good place,” Crowe said of the meeting. “How they’ve pulled all of this stuff forward into a contemporary world, and how they build it out from there, and how all the other characters interweave in each other’s stories, mate, it’s fantastic.”
Crowe expressed full confidence in Kurtzman’s limited directing experience and offered a critical distinction between this iteration, targeting a June 2017 release, and the previous one starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, which collected $416 million worldwide. “This one is kind of more designed to seriously scare the shit out of you.”
As for Blood Meridian, the film based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy and produced by No Country For Old Men’s Scott Rudin is a project Crowe says he knows nothing about. “I’m friends with [director] James Franco and I’ve talked to James Franco about working with him, but I have no idea where that came from,” he said of reports about the project falling apart earlier this week.
Next up for Crowe, he and co-star Ryan Gosling will join producer Joel Silver and director Shane Black in Cannes for the premiere of The Nice Guys ahead of the movie's May 20 release.
'The Mummy' Revives an Ancient Power in New Trailer at CinemaCon
Tom Cruise knows how to make a curse look good.
Director Alex Kurtzman brought out the cast of The Mummy (but no Tom Cruise) Wednesday at CinemaCon, where they discussed its biggest stunt and revealed a new trailer.
The film stars Sofia Boutella as The Mummy, as well as Courtney B. Vance, Annabelle Wallis and Jake Johnson.
Boutella shared details of her character, saying she was a princess who was promised to be Pharaoh, but that was taken away from her. She knew how to summon gods, but unfortunately "summoned the wrong god and that stays with her."
The cast spoke about their much-hyped zero-G scene from the first trailer, which shows Cruise and Wallis' character on a plane that is going down. Kurtzman revealed it took 64 takes over two days — and "a lot of barfing." Did Cruise lose his lunch? According to his leading lady Wallis, he did not throw up (and neither did she, for the record).
Cruise then appeared in a video to introduce a new trailer for the film.
It opens with Cruise's character running from explosions, with one uncovering an underground Egyptian ruin. Cut to The Mummy back in ancient Egypt and being buried alive as punishment for murdering the king.
"You are alive because you were chosen," says Jekyll, with the trailer revealing Cruise's character is the instrument by which the Mummy will return.
Earlier, Universal also showed off a sizzle reel of its classic monster movies. Kurtzman spoke about honoring the past and looking forward to the future, calling those movies "an incredible legacy."
"To be able to stand in the shadows of those giants … it was an incredible experience. Amazing. And having Tom Cruise in the movie, doesn't hurt," he said.
The film is set to launch a cinematic universe for Universal, with Crowe's Dr. Jekyll potentially playing a role similar to Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Javier Bardem is on board for a future Frankenstein film, while Johnny Depp has signed on for The Invisible Man.
Critics Consensus: Lacking the campy fun of the franchise's most recent entries and failing to deliver many monster-movie thrills, The Mummy suggests a speedy unraveling for the Dark Universe.
Last edited by TS Garp on Thu Jun 08, 2017 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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4PM this afternoon, AMC on 34th St.