‘The Mummy 4’ Will Reunite Original Cast & Ignore Dragon Emperor

Universal Pictures is betting that fans want the classic version of The Mummy back, not another reboot experiment. Nearly two decades after the last sequel, the studio is moving ahead with a fourth film that reunites most of the original cast and openly sidelines 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the weakest entry both with critics and at the box office. The first three films told a clear story in the numbers. The original 1999 The Mummy became a modern adventure hit, and 2001’s The Mummy Returns kept that momentum going. By contrast, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor swapped out about half the main cast, drew a 13% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, and still made roughly $405 million worldwide, but that total lagged behind the earlier films and signaled that audiences were losing patience with the changes. Universal now appears to have learned the obvious lesson. The new sequel, commonly referred to as The Mummy 4, brings back Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell, the swaggering American adventurer who anchored the franchise from the start. Rachel Weisz is returning as Evelyn O’Connell after skipping the 2008 installment, and John Hannah is back as her comedic brother ...