We Didn’t Ask For This: Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman Producing Reboots of The Mummy and Van Helsing
BAD IDEAS FROM SMART PEOPLE
Remember that time I said it wasn’t worth complaining about reboots because there was absolutely no way of avoiding them? Get ready to halt any complaining now, because it was just announced that the Star Trek screenwriting dream team Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman will be serve as producers on reboots of The Mummy franchise as well as Van Helsing. Because, as we have all figured out, there is no reason to create original characters anymore, just take old ones and write new scripts.
It’s fan fiction, everyone. Hollywood has officially turned into a factory of big-budget fan fiction. By the way: Van Helsing will star Tom Cruise, so now it’s fan fiction and celebrities engaging in cosplay. Yup. Go ahead — try to deny that’s what it is.
Universal Pictures is behind the two-year deal with Orci and Kurtzman, who were also just announced as the writers of the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man. In a press release, the exclusive deal outlines reboots for The Mummy — which starred Brendan Fraser and produced the spinoff The Scorpion King — and Van Helsing, which was going to rebooted by Guillermo Del Toro, but he abandoned the project when he was unable to get the budget he wanted. Cruise was attached to that project, too, which was supposed to have an R-rating, but Universal wouldn’t give that to Del Toro, either. But yeah — Tom Cruise would like to play a vampire again, and he is attached to star and co-produce the reboot.
So, now we have even more Mummy movies and a PG-13 Van Helsing movie starring Tm Cruise to look forward to. Great. I guess the silver lining in this extravaganza of unoriginality is that Orci and Kurtzman are really fun screenwriters who are frequent collaborators of geek icon J.J. Abrams. With Abrams, they successfully — and fantastically — brought back Star Trek and breathed new life into the Mission: Impossible franchise with their Ghost Protocol script. (And yes, Tom Cruise starred in that, too.) Now, they’re getting the chance to sit at the big chair and control the big picture, choosing their own directors and screenwriters. Right now, they’re adapting Ender’s Game for the big screen (as producers), with tons more projects in their lineup.
The duo are certainly ready to break out on their own beyond the screenwriting game, at which they have proven they have a golden touch. Will they finally make calls that will prevent future reboots of The Mummy and Van Helsing? Better yet, will this lead to something … original?
(via Collider)
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