©Universal Pictures
It was recently announced that Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz will be reprising their roles in an upcoming new film in Universal’s The Mummy franchise. Fraser will play Rick O’Connell, a former French Foreign Legion soldier while Weisz will once again be playing Evelyn Carnahan, a British Egyptologist.
The two actors starred in the original Mummy movie, which was released in 1999, and in The Mummy Returns, which debuted two years later. In 2008, Fraser also appeared in the third film, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which was set in China.
This week, while promoting his latest film, Rental Family, Fraser expressed his satisfaction about the new Mummy sequel.
He was quoted by AP News as saying: “The [sequel] I wanted to make was never made. … But the one I wanted to make is forthcoming. And I’ve been waiting 20 years for this call. Sometimes it was loud, sometimes it was a faint telegraph. Now? It’s time to give the fans what they want.”
Fraser told AP that Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was an attempt by producers to capitalize on the publicity boost offered by the Summer Olympics in Beijing that year.
“NBC had the rights to broadcast the Olympics that year,” explained Fraser. “So they put two together and we went to China. Working in Shanghai, an incredible experience. I’m proud of the third one because I think it’s a good standalone movie. We picked up and did what we do with a different crew on deck and gave it our best shot.”
The upcoming sequel will be directed by Radio Silence’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from a script by David Coggeshall, who wrote The Family Plan films as well as The Deliverance. Producers will include Sean Daniel, William Sherak, James Vanderbilt and Paul Neinstein of Project X Entertainment.
The original two films in The Mummy franchise were directed by Stephen Sommers. They grossed more than $400 million at the global box office.
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