Universal Hires Writer To Pen Competing Script For THE MUMMY Reboot
Univeral Pictures is so keen on having a Mummy reboot out by 2014, that a new report reveals that The Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray has been hired to pen a second script.
Last year, it was announced that Universal is planning a reboot of The Mummy franchise, with a possible release date for summer 2014. Len Wiseman (Total Recall) is directing, with a script written by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) and Roberto Orci/Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek Into Darkness) producing. Since then, news on the film (which is described as a modern day horror) has been quiet, but now a new report indicates that the studio is very serious about making the reboot happen. According to Vulture, Universal has decided to go an unusual route: Hire two different screenwriters to pen two separate scripts. Billy Ray (The Hunger Games) is writing said competing script, which is "also set in contemporary society". The studio believes that this increases the chances of having at least on script for The Mummy ready for production by either late summer or early fall. One Univeral insider says, "Studios don’t shoot movies anymore. They shoot release dates." And what would happen if neither draft works? "My suspicion is that one of them will be a 'structure-and-body' man, and one's going to be a 'character-and-dialogue' man — and that they'll then just gang-bang them together into one script, crediting both writers." What do you think of this news?