Universal may be going in a different direction for their upcoming ‘The Mummy‘ reboot. Sources are indicating they are changing the gender of the monster from male to female.
With the movie being the first officially announced film in the rebooted Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe, changing things up might be just the kind of draw that they need to keep things interesting. Of course major character changes haven’t always gone over well as the most recent ‘Fantastic Four‘ reboot and the upcoming ‘Ghostbusters‘ have proven. While director Alex Kurtzman and writer Jon Spaihts have a lot at stake with the film, I’m not sure if this gender change would truly impact moviegoers wanting to see it.
The film is currently set for March 24th, 2017 so there is still plenty of time, but it seems that the creators are more concerned with talent taking on the role. It will be interesting as to what the open ended backstory would be that would allow for either gender to take it. While the 1999 tale had Arnold Vosloo in the role it was the original released in 1932 which stood out as an iconic character having cast a memorable Boris Karloff as the character. Honestly, with either some quick rewrites of history or just introducing the Mummy as someone who gained power and was cursed could easily explain this away without taking away from the story in the slightest.
As always it seems unclear if the added scenes to ‘Dracula Untold‘ mean that Luke Evans and Charles Dance will be returning as vampires or if they are going to be once more retelling the tale of Vlad the Impaler at a future point in time.
With the right actress, I have no problems with the idea of having ‘The Mummy’ switch genders. I just hope they go for a woman who can bring strength to the screen and don’t try to rely on someone solely with sex appeal.
What are your thoughts on ‘The Mummy’ potentially having a female as the lead monster? Are you looking forward to the modernization of Universal’s classic creature features? Share your thoughts below!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
