First ‘The Mummy’ trailer airs, but will this be as good as the earlier movies?

One of the biggest blockbusters of the late 90’s was undoubtedly director Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy, a movie set in early 20th century Egypt in which intrepid explorer Rick O’Connell (played by Brendan Fraser) was in search of an ancient Egyptian treasure, but instead manages to unleash an evil force on the world…

Of course, Sommers’ movie never took itself seriously and was more about light-hearted fun, with the movie’s heroes Rick, his romantic interest Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and her adventurous brother Jonathan trying to defeat the evil mummy come to life Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a great villain in what certainly was a jolly entertaining movie.

The Mummy spawned two sequels, although the final film of the trilogy, which was set in China (and puzzled many viewers for not featuring a single mummy at all) was a critical and commercial flop, meaning that quite a few Hollywood pundits thought the franchise was dead for good.

But Universal Pictures will now be bringing The Mummy back to life and rebooting the franchise in 2017, with the movie’s first trailer having been released last Sunday. And it looks like Universal is pulling out all the stops to make this mummy a success, as it will feature one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Tom Cruise, and also twice-Academy Award winner Russell Crowe of Gladiator fame.

The movie’s special effects are also looking top-notch (which no doubt is an important thing in a blockbuster of this ilk) judging by this first trailer, and this new Mummy movie also appears to have a strong new villainess, who hopefully will be as interesting as that Imhotep chap from the old Mummy films.

It remains to be seen, though, whether this Mummy reboot can capture the magic and offer the same goofy fun as the earlier movies, even if it does have a star-studded cast and plenty of fancy CGI. Also, the moviemakers appear to be aiming for a more serious tone this time around, which might not be to everyone’s liking, especially fans of the earlier films which had a more light-hearted tone.

But still, we can only hope this upcoming movie will offer the same grand spectacle and entertainment as earlier films in the franchise did when it hits the theatres next year.