It was recently revealed that Universal had decided to take advantage of their library of classic movie monsters (which includes the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, Creature Of The Black Lagoon, and The Mummy) by hiring Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan to expand and unify a world featuring these characters.
Well, it has been confirmed tonight that Kurtzman will direct The Mummy for the studio in preparation for a release date of April 22nd, 2016. It’s set to be the first instalment in a new wave of monster movies, so there will be a lot of pressure on the writer to make this a success and set the tone moving forwards.
The original trilogy was helmed by Steve Sommers and starred Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. The franchise grossed north of $1.2 billion, but it’s been a struggle to get this reboot going as both Len Wiseman (Total Recall) and Andy Muschietti (Mama) were both attached at one point, but dropped out shortly after.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but we do know that this take on The Mummy will take place in the present day and is an action-adventure tentpole with horror elements.
Alex Kurtzman (who recently split from writing partner Roberto Orci) is of course best known for contributing to Transformers, Star Trek and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He’s also attached to direct Venom for Sony Pictures, and it’s unclear what his decision to helm this movie means for that spin-off.
