You know that feeling when three of your favourite things – in this case, Radio Silence, The Mummy and Brendan Fraser – all come together in a beautiful unity that makes you believe, even if just for a second, that all is right in the world? Yeah, that.
So, we learned back in November last year that Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, better known as Radio Silence, fresh from Scream, Abigail and Ready or Not, are stepping up to bring The Mummy franchise back to the big screen and not only that, but they are going right back to the beginning and, just as we had in 1999, stars Brendan Frazer, Rachel Weiz and John Hannah are all reuniting to breathe new life into the series.
Now we’ve learned that the fourth movie – we’ll get to that in a minute – won’t release in May 2028 as originally planned but rather will arrive in time for Halloween next year, just as it should, hitting the big screen on October 15th.
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And look, I still think they should introduce other supernatural creatures into the series and have The Mummy, Ready or Not, and Abigail as one big world. But I’m Nerdy like that, you may have noticed.
On the script he and Bettinelli-Olpin have penned for The Mummy 4, Gillett says that Fraser and Weisz, returning as Rick O’Connell and Evelyn Carnahan, have “been so complimentary of the script, and the approach, and what we’ve designed for their two characters and their relationship and I mean, we can’t speak for them, but as fans, I think reading this script, it does feel a lot like it has the energy of the first movie”.
On the script, he says: “It’s romantic, and it’s scary, and it takes some real chances. There’s a lot of risk in it, but it’s big and swashbuckling. It just has all of those things. And I think, you know, just in our conversations with both Brendan and Rachel, I think that it really does scratch that same itch for them, I think that they really feel strongly that it’s a return to form in so many ways.”
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Gillett compared taking over the reins of The Mummy to how they approached Scream V and VI, saying: “I think the headline for us is that this is our opportunity, and fans of the originals’ opportunity, to see Rick and Evie again, and to get Brendan and Rachel back in the saddle, as they say, and have another super fun, big adventure and it’s not unlike how we approached ‘Scream,’ is, how do we take this thing that we love as fans, and not turn it into just nostalgia, but actually evolve it and create something new for the for the present day?
“And I think everybody involved is on board for that, and I mean, we’re just thrilled to get to go make a big, sweeping adventure movie with a couple of incredible actors.”
Interestingly, Gillet reveals that they learned about The Mummy potentially being theirs when they were working on 2024’s Abigail and he and Bettinelli-Olpin credit producer William Sherrick, who has been with them on all their movies, as being the one to secure them the gig: “William’s always way ahead of us.
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“Matt and I, what we’re doing next is we’re finishing the day, we have eight setups, and William’s always talking about the next thing. And he was like, ‘Hey, I think I’m gonna get us Mummy.’ In our heads, we’re going, ‘That’d be f—ing crazy. There’s no way William’s gonna pull it off.'”
He goes on, saying: “Cut to, we’re finishing Abigail, and we’re meeting with Dave Coggeshall, the writer, and we’re designing a pitch. We have been in this line of work long enough to know that nothing is real until it’s very, very real. It’s all speculative, and it feels great to give energy to really wonderful ideas, but we have learned to keep those opportunities a little bit at arm’s distance because it’s just easy to have your heart broken.”
However, as I alluded to earlier, one of the questions fans have is whether 2008’s Tomb of the Emperor Dragon, which saw Maria Bello step in to play Evelyn, is canon to this new movie? Bettinelli-Olpin says on this topic: “Well, Rachel is in this one.” before Gillet chips in: “That should answer the question for you.”
The Mummy 4 The Mummy 3 will now release on October 15, 2027 in cinemas.
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Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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