Brendan Fraser is finally ready to talk about “The Mummy 4″ for the first time, telling the Associated Press in a new interview that he’s been waiting 20 years to be able to make “The Mummy” movie he’s always dreamed of making. Variety confirmed earlier this month that Universal is developing a fourth “Mummy” to be headlined by Fraser alongside directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.. “The one I wanted to make was never made,” Fraser said about the franchise, which kicked off in 1999 and continued with 2001’s “The Mummy Returns” and 2008’s “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.” “The third one was a model of . how can I say this to the AP reporter? NBC had the rights to broadcast the Olympics that year,” Fraser said. “So they put two together and we went to China. Working in Shanghai, an incredible experience. I’m proud of the third one because I think it’s a good standalone movie. We picked up and did what we do with a different crew on deck and gave it our best shot. But the one I wanted to make is forthcoming. And I’ve been waiting 20 years for this call. Sometimes it was loud, sometimes it was a faint telegraph. Now? It’s time to give the fans what they want.” Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett make up the filmmaking duo Radio Silence, best known for 2019’s “Ready or Not” and reviving the “Scream” franchise for Paramount in 2022. Not only is Fraser is set to return to the franchise with the upcoming installment, but so is Rachel Weisz. The Oscar winner starred opposite Fraser in the first two movies before sitting out “Dragon Emperor.” Fraser told Variety a few years ago shortly before winning the best actor Oscar for “The Whale” that he’d be open to revisiting adventurer Rick O’Connell in another “Mummy” sequel, explaining: “I don’t know how it would work. But I’d be open to it, if someone came up with the right conceit.” Apparently the right conceit has been cracked. When Universal rebooted “The Mummy” in 2017, Fraser wasn’t invited back to the party. Instead, it was Tom Cruise who became the franchise’s star. The movie bombed with critics. “It is hard to make that movie,” Fraser told Variety. “The ingredient that we had going for our Mummy, which I didn’t see in that film, was fun. That was what was lacking in [Tom Cruise’s] incarnation. It was too much of a straight-ahead horror movie. ‘The Mummy’ should be a thrill ride, but not terrifying and scary.”.
https://variety.com/2025/film/news/brendan-fraser-the-mummy-4-fans-1236586827/
