Brendan Fraser Is Making Another Mummy Movie, But Without One Of His Best Costars
Stephen Sommers wants to work with Brendan Fraser on another Mummy movie, but without Arnold Vosloo, who played Imhotep in the previous films.
Brendan Fraser is back in Hollywood after nearly a decade of sticking to the shadows. Now, after winning an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, Brendan Fraser is a hot commodity again, which has people thinking: will there be another Mummy movie? Even The Mummy’s original director, Stephen Sommers, is thinking about making a new addition to the franchise, only, if it happens, he won’t be inviting back Arnold Vosloo, who played The Mummy villain Imhotep (via SyFy).
Brendan Fraser was one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood during the 90s and early 2000s. He kicked off his career in 1991’s Dogfight before snagging his first leading film role in 1992’s Encino Man (which also featured another 2023 Oscar winner, Ke Huy Quan) and building up momentum in his career with the drama School Ties, which he starred in with filmmaking duo Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Next, Brendan Fraser would meet his first major box office success in 1997’s George of the Jungle before soaring to fame in 1999’s The Mummy.
Brendan Fraser starred in The Mummy after gaining critical acclaim in Gods and Monsters, Bill Condon’s biopic of 1931’s Frankenstein director, James Whale, which also starred Ian McKellen. The Mummy, which sees Fraser as the Egyptian god-fighting archeologist, Rick O’Connell, brought Fraser out of the drama and comedy world and into the land of adventure films and franchises. The Mummy was a huge success, earning more than $416.4 million worldwide and inspiring two sequels, The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008).
Brendan Fraser reprised his role for both of The Mummy sequels, but by 2008 he began to slow down on public appearances while he dealt with a myriad of challenges in his personal life, including divorce, raising children, multiple surgeries due to stunt injuries, and dealing with the trauma of sexual assault. Meanwhile, in 2017, Tom Cruise attempted to reboot The Mummy franchise and was panned by critics who claimed Cruise’s The Mummy failed to deliver on both monster thrills and the campy comedy that the Fraser-led franchise was so well loved for.
Now, 15 years after Branden Fraser’s last Mummy movie left theaters, the original The Mummy director is thinking about asking Fraser to come back to his roots and star in a fourth Mummy movie. Sommers is already planning out where the film will take place, insisting that it must be Egypt.
Though a fourth Mummy movie hasn’t been greenlit, that hasn’t stopped Sommers from daydreaming about what it would be like to work with Brendan Fraser on a Mummy movie again. “He was a dream,” Sommers said about working with Fraser, saying that the Doom Patrol actor and Hugh Jackman have been his favorite leading men to work with because of their work ethic and positive attitudes.
Though Sommers would love to work with Brendan Fraser again, he would not be interested in inviting back Arnold Vosloo to the next Mummy movie. “I love Arnold Vosloo, he’s one of my best friends,” the Van Helsing director said, but if the executives at Universal Pictures ever approve a new Mummy movie, Sommers would rather mix it up and go with a brand new villain than redo something that’s already been done.
