A couple of days ago, it was announced that The Mummy would be rebooted. In this article, I will go through why I think it is a good idea.
For those of you who don't know, the first Mummy film was released in 1932 and was considered as a horror film. Sixty-seven years later a remake, featuring actors such as Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz was made. This film, whilst it did still contain some horror elements, was more action orientated. It was basically Indiana Jones vs The Mummy and was definitely directed at a younger audience. This wasn't a bad thing but if this film wants to separate itself from the previous films, it needs to change it's themes.
What I feel could be a fantastic idea, is to go back to the roots, that made The Mummy a classic. It needs to become more of a horror film again and needs to truly have moments that frighten the audience. In this case it will need to take the risk of not appealing to younger viewers. Now, what they need to be careful of, is to not end up making a film like the recent Wolfman remake. It was a victim of some truly bad pacing and never really explored the true horrors of being a werewolf. The film was more gory than scary and whilst some of the action sequences were good, they weren't great.
I feel another route , that would help this film tremendously is to drop some of the CGI. Whilst the CGI was great for its time, in The Mummy, I don't think it is necessarily needed for this reboot. I always feel the CGI took away the believability of the character. It didn't feel real and in my opinion, made it considerably harder, for the audience to suspend their disbelief. However, if they do decide to use a frequent amount of CGI, they should definitely look for a company like WETA Digital. As many of you are well aware, WETA Digital was responsible for the designs of the apes, in, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. They made Caesar's character believable, in my view, so if they do decide to go down this route, I hope they acquire the talent of this company.
CGI from The Mummy 1999.
What could be interesting, is to have the film set in present day. In both versions of The Mummy they have been set in the early twentieth century, so I think it would help things feel fresh, whilst retaining the fundamentals of the original film. That way the characters could appeal to a modern audience and make it more relatable. I personally believe The Wolfman could have benefited from this. Whether they go for this idea or not, is anyone's guess at the moment but I do feel, it would certainly be the way to go.
That was my thoughts on why it might not be a bad idea. What do you think ? Is this just another example of Hollywood running out of ideas or do you feel this was necessary ?