This may come as a surprise to some of you, but The Mummy used to be a scary monster. Yes, the decrepit resurrected corpse that torments the living with ancient Egyptian curses was one of the biggest hit horror movies of the 1930s before it came back in 1999 with a quasi-Indiana Jones remake courtesy of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra director Stephen Sommers. But it’s the latter version that Universal Pictures thinks audiences want to see. Makes you wonder why they hired an actual horror movie director in the first place.
But that’s not their problem anymore. Andy Muschetti, the director of the hit “actual” horror movie Mama, has left the Mummy remake because Universal decided the film needed to fit snugly in all four, family-friendly quadrants. According to The Wrap, Muschetti has left the project over those delightful “creative differences” we’ve heard so much about, although unlike most news stories that trot out this time-honored phrase, we at least have an actual explanation for who was trying to be creative and who was different this time.
The Mummy remake is expected to move forward as Universal Pictures currently plans, although they are currently in search a new director. Submit your resumes now!
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
