Universal Almost Did A Fourth Mummy Movie And It Sounds Awesome

Once Universal’s terrible Mummy reboot with Tom Cruise in the lead came out, folks wished they’d have just gone ahead and made another one with Brendan Fraser – the actor himself included. From 1999 to 2008, Fraser starred in three horror/adventure movies which earned a grand total of $1.41 billion. You might think that Universal were fools for stopping at three, then, but it’s interesting to note that they very nearly made a fourth entry in the series.

In a piece on the future of the Universal Monsters franchise, The Hollywood Reporter recalls that a fourth film was proposed following the release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Unfortunately, however, the studio ultimately elected to move forward with building a cinematic universe instead in an attempt to rival Marvel and DC. And as we all know, that didn’t work out as planned.

“Universal opted not to go forward with a fourth film that would have seen the O’Connells face off against Aztec mummies in South America with Antonio Banderas playing the villain, and instead set its sights on a cinematic universe.”

Mummy fans don’t look too kindly upon Tomb, as it’s widely agreed to be a drop in quality after the first two, perhaps because Stephen Sommers didn’t return to write and direct, with Rob Cohen taking over the reins. It was also a major blow that Rachel Weisz elected not to return as Rick O’Connell’s wife Evey, with Maria Bello replacing her. Nevertheless, the threequel made $401 million at the box office and as such, it was a bold move for Universal to turn down producing a follow-up.

To be fair, though, 2017’s The Mummy actually earned a bit more, coming in at $410 million worldwide. However, a critical mauling meant all future sequels and spinoffs were cancelled and instead, the studio’s now going in a different direction. 2020’s The Invisible Man, for instance, is co-produced with Blumhouse and is expected to be a lower budget effort that leans into the horror. Paul Feig is also working on Dark Army, which looks to be a good old-fashioned monster mash-up movie.

Tell us, though, do you think a fourth Mummy should have happened, or even should happen now? Sound off in the comments section down below with your thoughts.