Rachel Weisz, Brendan Fraser to star in fourth installment of ‘Mummy’ franchise

LOS ANGELES — Hollywood stars Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are all set to reunite for the fourth installment of the action-adventure “Mummy”.

Universal Pictures is returning to one of its most beloved action-adventure franchises, with Fraser and Weisz in discussions to return for a new Mummy movie, presumably reprising their roles from the studio’s Mummy films of the 1990s and 2000s, multiple sources have told deadline.com.

As per deadline.com, Radio Silence‘s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will direct from a script by David Coggeshall, with franchise veteran Sean Daniel to produce alongside William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, and Paul Neinstein of Project X Entertainment.

The project reunites Radio Silence and Project X following their recent work together rebooting the Scream franchise with films up to, but not including, next year’s Scream 7, which Radio Silence did not direct, but which Project X did produce.

Fraser and Weisz starred in two Mummy movies together: 1999’s The Mummy and 2001’s The Mummy Returns, both based on one of the original movie monsters of the early 20th century, both directed by Stephen Sommers, and both grossing over $400 million worldwide.

The 1999 film introduced Fraser as Rick O’Connell, a roguish American adventurer and former French Foreign Legion soldier, and Weisz as Evelyn Carnahan, an English Egyptologist working at the Cairo Museum of Antiquities.

Over the course of the two films, the pair go from reluctant partners to a married couple with a young son, battling ancient curses from the likes of the resurrected Egyptian high priest Imhotep. Weisz’s Evelyn dies in the second film, after discovering she’s the reincarnation of an Egyptian princess, though she’s ultimately revived by Rick.

Contributing to Fraser’s rise as one of the biggest stars of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The franchise continued with 2002’s spinoff The Scorpion King, starring Dwayne Johnson, which grossed over $180 million worldwide, as well as 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, where Fraser returned without Weisz under the direction of Rob Cohen.