Questionable ADR aside, the one thing that got people talking about The Mummy‘s inaugural trailer was the spectacular airplane sequence, as Tom Cruise and Annabelle Wallis fought for their lives at 25,000 feet.
Now, we know what you’re thinking; airplanes going down on the big screen is nothing new, and filmmakers tend to rely on a mixture of CGI and green screen effects to properly enthral audiences. But what really sets The Mummy apart is the film’s commitment to realism, particularly when it comes to that airborne stunt. Up above, you’ll see that Tom Cruise and director Alex Kurtzman masterfully coordinated the Zero G stunt while on board a parabolic flight – that is, an aircraft that performs a zero gravity maneuver mid-flight to recreate the experience of weightlessness.
It’s a technique often employed by NASA when training astronauts – hence the nickname “Vomit Comet” – but the fact that The Mummy‘s crew retrofitted the aircraft’s interior to create a full-blown movie set is really a showcase of Alex Kurtzman’s ambition. The end result is arguably one of the more impressive action sequences in recent memory – Tom Cruise is involved, after all – and here’s hoping that the rest of Kurtzman’s monstrous reboot can live up to the hype.
Also on board for the franchise revival are Jurassic World star Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, and the Oscar-winning Russell Crowe (Gladiator), whose Dr. Jekyll may be line for a spinoff of his own as Universal’s shared universe begins to take shape.
Universal will introduce a brave new world of gods and monsters when The Mummy swoops into theaters on June 9th.
