Fans of Brendan Fraser’s classic The Mummy franchise were excited to find out that the franchise could finally be about to deliver a fourth movie with the beloved actor returning to his role as Rick O’Connell. However, despite the quote coming from Fraser himself, it seems that there could be something more hopeful about it than being an actual plan to revive the franchise.
Speaking with Deadline, Fraser was directly asked about his return as Rick, and his reply was a little less positive than it appeared to be the last time he spoke of it. He said:
“Hey, anything’s possible at this point. It is speculation, and I would love to tell you…I would love to answer more about that. But my lips are kind of sealed. I am sorry, but I want you to know that there is a definite fan base.”
It is no news to anyone that Fraser has a massive fandom behind him. A recent appearance at a fan convention proved that beyond doubt, and many of them would love to see him set off on another Egyptian adventure. He added:
“The fan convention that I just came from in Minnesota… we were there to sign autographs, meet fans, but we did have a question-answer on stage in front of 3000 attendees and I thought we were rockstars too so much so like I walked off stage thinking: ‘Man I am gonna get a personality hangover out of those.’ That was a lot of love.”
‘The Mummy’ Franchise Has Been Through Some Rough Times
Despite the first iteration of The Mummy on screen dating back a century, the franchise has had some high points and several lows. While Fraser’s 1999 version of The Mummy is among one of the most successful “Mummy” movies ever released. While the third installment of Fraser’s franchise did not exactly land the way of its two predecessors, what came later was even worse.
There have been several imaginative and completely different takes on the classic Mummy tropes that go all the way back to when the likes of Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee swaggered around wrapped in bandages, such as the bonkers Bubba Ho-Tep starring Bruce Campbell. However, in 2017, Universal attempted to kick off an interconnected universe of classic monster movies, with Tom Cruise heading up a flashy but hollow action movie. Effectively, that movie ended up killing off a general interest in Mummy movies, until Lee Cronin signed on to direct a new version of the classic horror franchise with a new and bloody direction. It is clear though that a return of Fraser’s version could be a real nostalgic crowd-pleaser and a big win where other monster movies have failed.
While it seems that Fraser’s return as Rick O’Connell is not a guaranteed thing just yet, the amount of interest shown since the original mention of a new movie could be exactly what gets the whole project a green light.
- Release Date
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April 16, 1999
- Runtime
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124 minutes
- Producers
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James Jacks, Sean Daniel