Earlier tonight, Universal dropped the first trailer for their upcoming reboot of The Mummy. Terrifying and action packed in equal measure, it promised a more mature and refreshing take on the franchise, one that looks to be light years away from the Brendan Fraser-led movies that we saw over a decade ago. More importantly, however, it’s shaping up to be a promising start for the studio’s new cinematic universe.
We say “start” because despite 2014’s Dracula Untold, it’s actually The Mummy that will kick things off. The former film was originally supposed to be the beginning of this new monsters universe, but given the poor reception it received upon hitting theatres, the studio hit the reset button and has now wiped it from canon.
That’s according to Alex Kurtzman, who’s heading up all things monsters over at Universal and sitting behind the camera for The Mummy. During a recent press event for the film in LA, Collider spoke with the director and asked him about the misguided Untold. Asking whether it’s canon or not, Kurtzman simply replied “no,” and explained that his upcoming monsters flick would be a fresh start for the shared cinematic universe.
Let’s just hope things go smoother this time around, as this is far from the first time the studio has tried to get the monsters plan going. Aside from Dracula Untold, they also attempted to kick it off with Van Helsing in 2004 and The Wolfman in 2010. Obviously, both of those failed and now, here we are, with the fourth try coming up in the form of The Mummy.
All cynicism aside though, and this truly does look like a promising film. The pieces are definitely in place for Universal to finally deliver on what could be something quite exciting and as of now, we’re feeling fairly confident that the fourth time will be the charm.