WITH Universal pictures return visit Mummy the franchise that made him a household name, Brendan Fraser strives to take care of unfinished business.
After Deadline reported that Mummy 4 is in progress at Universal, where Fraser and Rachel Weisz are expected to reprise their roles, the former has confirmed that he's preparing to make “the one I wanted” instead The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008).
“What I wanted to do never got made,” he told the magazine Associated Pressnoting that the third installment was an attempt to capitalize on that year's Summer Olympics in Beijing.
“NBC had the rights to broadcast the Olympics that year,” Frazier explained. “So they put together two films and we went to China. Working in Shanghai was an incredible experience. I'm proud of the third one because I think it's a good standalone film. We went and did what we do with a different team on deck and did our best.”
Fraser continued: “But the one I wanted to make is here. And I've been waiting for this call for 20 years. Sometimes it was loud, sometimes it was weak telegraph. Now? It's time to give the fans what they want.”
Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser in The Mummy Returns, 2001.
Universal/Courtesy of Everett Collection
Earlier this month, Deadline reported that Radio Silence's Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will direct the upcoming film from a script by David Coggeshall (Family plan movies, Liberation), with franchise veteran Sean Daniel producing alongside Project X Entertainment's William Sherak, James Vanderbilt and Paul Neinstein.
Fraser and Weiss starred together in Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001), where Maria Bello replaced the actress in the role of Evelyn O'Connell in Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
