Conflicting reports may have raised question marks over Tom Cruise’s actual involvement in Universal’s upcoming The Mummy reboot, but today the studio has secured the Mission: Impossible stalwart for the monster movie with a new release date to boot.
Previously slated to open on March 24, 2017, Alex Kurtzman’s reimagining will now loom into theaters in all of its mythic glory on June 9, 2017. That’s almost a full year after the film’s original release date of June 24, 2016, which has been shuffled around as Universal maps out the formative entries into its budding ‘Universal Monsters’ shared universe.
Working from a script produced by Prometheus‘ Jon Spaihts, word is that The Mummy of 2017 will be set in the present day, tackling the ancient Egyptian lore from a different angle entirely than the Brendan Fraser-fronted adventure flicks. Much like previous reports had suggested, Spaihts and Kurtzman have selected a female actor to portray the titular role of the all-powerful deity, with Kingsman: The Secret Service breakout Sofia Boutella primed to take up the mantle.
As for how Tom Cruise fits into the ensemble, Variety reports that the action veteran “isn’t expected to produce, but he will play a major part in development.” One member of Universal’s crack writing team that will feature heavily across its budding shared universe is director Alex Kurtzman who, alongside Chris Morgan and Sean Daniel, will hope to pave the way for an interconnected movie-verse seeping with mythology. In time, and providing each film brings relative success, it’s a universe that’ll welcome Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Wolf Man and of course, Boutella’s Mummy.
It’s been a busy week for release date news, with Disney, Sony Pictures and Paramount readjusting each of their respective slates for 2016 and beyond. The Mummy, on the other hand, is now poised to open on June 9, 2017.