Earlier in July, it looked as though Len Wiseman (Underworld) would helm yet another remake/reboot of The Mummy franchise. However, since he has dropped out, Deadline is now reporting that Universal Pictures has entered talks with Andres Muschietti to take the reigns. To date, Muschietti has only one feature length film to his name, but it is an intriguing one: Mama.
Originally a 2008 short film he directed, the project was so haunting that it caught the attention of filmmaker Guillermo del Toro who would produce Muschietti’s feature-length adaptation of the short. Also, its undeniable horror element may point to a return to the original roots of The Mummyfranchise.
Despite what many millennials might think, The Mummywasn’t always about Brendan Fraser cracking Harrison Ford- wise against blankets of CGI. An original 1932 film (that happens to bear a striking similarity to Bram Stoker’s oft-forgotten The Jewel of Seven Stars), it told the creepy story of a long-dead ghoul (Boris Karloff) coming back to claim a loved one through another’s body. Not that unlike Mama, huh?
Could this be a return of classic Universal horror? Universal attempted such a thing before with the 2010 remake of The Wolfman, but just because that approach didn’t quite work does not mean it cannot be done.