The Mummy trilogy was not only a major part of many childhoods, but was also a franchise that contributed to the respective legends of actors Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. So, there is major cause for celebration on all fronts because both actors are coming back to make a fourth movie in the series.
The Mummy premiered in 1999, and was followed up with The Mummy Returns in 2001. The trilogy concluded with 2008's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Fraser appeared in all three movies, but Weisz only starred in the first two. While promoting 2022's The Whale, Fraser told Variety that he was "open to" making another Mummy movie — if the right story could be nailed down.
So, it stands to reason that at least the concept of a story for another Mummy movie has impressed Fraser enough that he has agreed to return, with Weisz also coming back to reprise her role. It will be Fraser's fourth time leading the franchise, and Weisz's third after she missed Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
What makes The Mummy 4 so unusual
Interestingly, the upcoming movie serving as Fraser's fourth appearance as Rick O'Connell will be the fifth in the franchise. The fourth came in the form of a 2017 reboot starring Tom Cruise, simply called The Mummy. Cruise's movie flopped at the box office and was panned by critics and audiences alike. The plan for it to launch a larger Universal franchise featuring other monsters that the studio had the rights to was ultimately scrapped.
So, among the Fraser movies is Cruise's, which is canonically unrelated to the main trilogy. This makes the decision to revive the Fraser/Weisz era especially surprising, as a hard reboot can often mean drawing a line under previous iterations of a fictitious universe. Thankfully, Universal has reversed course on ending the original franchise — even if it has been 17 years since the last installment.
Fraser has nailed why his Mummy movies were so much better than the Tom Cruise reboot
Cruise's movie maintained the franchise's family-friendly PG-13 rating, but it approached the story in a very different way. As Fraser has stated, the reboot lacked the "fun" of the original trilogy, focusing too much on being a high-octane and gritty piece of cinema, rather than having a strong sense of humor woven throughout it. Fraser thinks everyone prefers the latter.
The older Mummy movies boasted a great blend of comedy and drama, which is what made them so entertaining. The reboot was re-angled to be far more focused on being a horror movie, and not even one that could be too scary without losing its PG-13 label. It was generally just a downgrade in all areas, other than maybe the special effects. To have the original franchise stars coming back to continue their saga is nothing short of great news.
Very little is known about The Mummy 4 so far, other than the fact that Fraser and Weisz are returning.