Brendan Fraser has said the upcoming sequel to The Mummy will “give the fans what they want” from the franchise.
Earlier this month, reports emerged that Fraser and co-star Rachel Weisz are set to star in a new film in the series, which they launched in 1999 and followed up with 2001’s The Mummy Returns.
Fraser went on to star in a third film, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor, in 2008, and now a fourth film is in production, with Weisz returning and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready Or Not, Scream) set to direct.
In a new interview with the Associated Press, Fraser has reflected on the 17-year break between films and how the new one is more in line with his hopes for the franchise than Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor.
“I’m proud of the third one because I think it’s a good standalone movie,” he said. “We picked up and did what we do with a different crew on deck and gave it our best shot. But the one I wanted to make is forthcoming.”
“I’ve been waiting 20 years for this call,” he added. “Sometimes it was loud, sometimes it was a faint telegraph. Now? It’s time to give the fans what they want.”
The 1999 film was a remake of the classic 1932 Boris Karloff movie and starred Fraser as Rick O’Connell, a treasure hunter who travels to the City of the Dead with Weisz’s librarian Evelyn Carnahan and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah), where they accidentally awaken 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.
Universal attempted to rejuvenate the franchise with a 2017 reboot starring Tom Cruise as a US soldier who accidentally unearths 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 new Fraser and Weisz film, there is also a separate Mummy film in production from horror studio Blumhouse Productions, set to star Jack Reynor (Midsommar, Sing Street) and to be 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.
English (US) · 