If The Mummy 4 comes to fruition, it could fix The Mummy franchise’s storyline problem that brought down the luster of Brendan Fraser’s trilogy.

The Mummy 4 Won’t Have The Story Problem That Killed The Franchise Before

With such a huge gap in time since the last chapter, 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Mummy 4 could feasibly avoid mistakes in the direction of its overarching storyline. Audiences may recall that the classic The Mummy formula – an affable adventurer implored to vanquish an undead ruler all while wooing his love interest – had worn thin and didn’t go over as well in the third film, causing it to become an unfortunate flop. Seeing as enough time has passed to forget the overdone mistakes of the franchise and begin anew, The Mummy 4 could essentially capitalize off of avoiding the same recycled storyline problems.

In fact, The Mummy 4 would have to explain the passage of time, the circumstances of Rick O’Connell’s return to adventuring, and what happened to the original The Mummy gang in the interim. Besides the fact that this type of storyline would be relatively new to The Mummy franchise, The Mummy 4 following in this direction would be conducive to its success. A perfect mix of nostalgia and an explanation to where the well-missed cast of characters ended up could restore the hype behind the ingenuity of the original The Mummy and the aspects that worked well throughout the rest of the franchise.

Universal’s Failed Dark Universe Means The Mummy 4 Is Its Last Hope

Tom Cruise may have reinvigorated the Top Gun franchise, but that wasn’t the case in the reception of 2017’s The Mummy reboot. Cruise starred as The Mummy’s protagonist and mercenary Nick Morton – and although Cruise had major star appeal for the reboot of the classic trilogy, the newest The Mummy was disastrous enough to generate the fall of Universal Pictures’ Dark Universe enterprise. Universal had planned to unload a series of monster movies that took place in a shared universe, but the plan was quickly scrapped after the 2017 movie’s failure at the box office.

Cruise’s The Mummy wasn’t representative of the time gap initiative that made Top Gun work. 2017’s The Mummy largely ignored the storyline found in The Mummy trilogy (or the 1932 classic of the same name), had no familiar characters, and lacked the enchanting idiosyncrasies that made Fraser’s films so great. Now that Brendan Fraser is back on the scene and the potential for a fourth The Mummy installment exists, The Mummy saga has a much larger chance at becoming properly reinvigorated and fix the repetitive story problem that condemned the franchise.