THE MUMMY 4 Directors Want Old-School Adventure With Practical Effects Leading the Charge
Fans of The Mummy franchise have a pretty great reason to get excited right now. While Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin are busy rolling out their latest horror sequel Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, they’re also deep in the early stages of bringing The Mummy back to life in a way that feels more in line with what made the original films so fun in the first place.
The directing duo, known collectively as Radio Silence, are officially set to helm The Mummy 4 for Universal, with a release date locked for May 19, 2028, and Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are both returning as Rick and Evelyn O’Connell, which already puts this project on a strong footing for longtime fans.
The new installment is being written by David Coggeshall, whose recent credit includes Orphan: First Kill. Story specifics are still tightly guarded, but it sounds like the filmmakers are choosing to ignore the third movie, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which notably swapped Weisz out for Maria Bello.
Where things get especially interesting is how Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin plan to approach the look and feel of the movie. During a recent conversation, they made it clear they want to lean heavily into practical effects rather than relying on CGI spectacle.
“I think we can fully say that’s the aim,” Gillett tells Bloody-Disgusting about whether they’ll opt for practical over VFX. “To steer into Raiders [of the Lost Ark] territory. Obviously, there are going to be big grand set pieces that are going to require some of that, but I think our goal is to put ourselves and the crew and the cast in as real a situation as we can.”
That’s an exciting direction, especially considering how much the franchise has been tied to early-era CGI. The original The Mummy hit theaters in 1999 and pulled in an impressive $422.5 million worldwide, spawning sequels The Mummy Returns and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. While those films delivered plenty of action and adventure, the visual effects haven’t exactly aged gracefully.
The Mummy Returns, in particular, still gets called out for its rough-looking Scorpion King, played by Dwayne Johnson. It’s one of those moments fans remember for the wrong reasons, so hearing that the new film is aiming for something more tangible and grounded is definitely a step in the right direction.
If Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin can capture that Indiana Jones-style energy with real sets, practical stunts, and just the right amount of visual effects support, this could end up feeling like a true continuation of what made the first two films so awesome.
There’s still a long road ahead before The Mummy 4 hits theaters, but bringing Fraser and Weisz back together and committing to a more physical filmmaking style already makes this one of the more exciting legacy sequels in development.