Director: Alex Kurtzman
Running Time: 110 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: October 23rd 2017 (UK)
While Hollywood has become increasingly obsessed with interconnected universes, Universal Pictures has felt a little left out due to the lack of comic book characters they own the rights to. To make up for it, they decided to go back to the classic movie monsters that the studio had such success with in the 1930s (indeed, they created an interconnected world of them back then). They’ve been busy attempting to build a linked series of movies around them, called Dark Universe.
The Mummy was the film designed to kick off the Dark Universe, with a big budget, an a-list star and a property everyone knows thanks to its 1990s/2000s resurrection with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. The response from critics and US audiences was muted however, with American box office stalling (although it did manage $400 million globally) and an abysmal RottenTomatoes rating (currently 16%). That’s caused a bit of a rethink about how the Dark Universe is going to pan out, with Bride Of Frankenstein pushed back, and the likes of The Invisible Man (with Johnny Depp) and The Wolfman currently without a release date. [Read more…]
Universal has a lot riding on The Mummy, as they’re hoping they can rival Disney/Marvel and Warner/DC’s interconnected coming book universes, with a monster movie universe. They’re kicking that off with The Mummy, and they’ve got some a-list talent to help them, with Tom Cruise starring. Russell Crowe is also due to show up as Dr. Jeykyll/Mr. Hyde.