Additional images from The Mummy highlighting stars Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella have emerged, along with fresh insight on the movie from director Alex Kurtzman. The Mummy itself is more than a simple reboot of The Mummy film franchise that has been around since the 1930s; it's the launching point for a potential shared universe of Universal Monster movies, with Kurtzman serving as its co-architect alongside Chris Morgan (the longtime writer/producer of the Fast & Furious series).
Among the projects that Universal reportedly has in development as part of its cinematic Monster universe are movies centering around the human monster hunter Van Helsing, as well as the Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, Wolfman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Trailers for The Mummy have teased not only the origin story of its namesake - in this case, Princess Ahmanet (Boutella) - but also the larger world of monsters that Cruise's character in the film, Nick Mortan, stumbles into after inadvertently releasing the 5,000 year old Ahmanet from her prison.
Universal's monster universe is clearly being modeled after superhero film universes such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe, based on what we know of The Mummy already. Much like the MCU and DCEU examine the psychological and emotional mindsets of comic book superheroes, Kurtzman indicated to USA Today that Universal's shared monster universe will illustrate "The deep humanity I felt like these monsters were actually reflecting [since I was a kid.] They say something about who we are.”
Nick, pictured above, learns that Ahmanet (also pictured above, wreaking havoc on modern London) is but the tip of the iceberg in The Mummy, upon meeting Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe): the mysterious gentlemen (hint, hint) who oversees The Prodigium, a secret underground vault where magical and supernatural creatures are stored for safe-keeping. As Kurtzman told USA Today, Nick soon realizes that there is “a much larger world of gods and monsters he wasn’t aware of,” and audiences will be in the same boat as Cruise's protagonist during The Mummy - with trailers for the film explicitly hinting that creatures such as Dracula exist in this universe too.
Ahmanet possesses some unique super-powers of her own in The Mummy, as Kurtzman also revealed to USA Today:
"[Ahmanet's abilities are] organized around the ideas of romance and entrancement. She has control over and power to get into your mind, and creepy crawlies tend to like her when she’s around.”
Seeing as the plan is for Universal's monsters to eventually cross paths on one another on the big screen in this new shared movie universe, the idea that "creepy crawlies" prefer Ahmanet's company is something that should serve her well, down the line. That's not so good news for Cruise's Nick Mortan, as TV promos for The Mummy have shown Nick being "transformed" and changed by Ahmanet, in order to better serve her larger plans. Question is, will that include a future for Cruise's character in this Monster universe, beyond Kurtzman's film?
NEXT: Can Non-Superhero Cinematic Universes Work?
Source: USA Today
