Len Wiseman, the director of Underworld and the Total Recall remake, will not be directing Universal’s planned Mummy reboot, which has been in the works for quite some time already.
According to TheWrap, Wiseman, who just directed Fox’s Sleepy Hollow pilot, cited scheduling issues for the decision. Producers Sean Daniels, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are now stuck on the search for another director.
Variety reports that the script being used by Universal is the one from Prometheus co-writer Jon Spathis. There were reports back in February that Universal had hired Hunger Games writer Billy Ray to write a second draft, just in case Spathis’ draft didn’t turn out to their liking.
The Mummy has a long history at Universal, starting with the classic 1932 Boris Karloff monster movie. In 1999, the studio rebooted it for a trilogy starring Brendan Fraser and created Scorpion King spin-offs.
Wiseman’s exit may work out for the better for Universal, giving the studio a chance to seek out a more exciting pick for director. Although Wiseman did helm the successful Underworld and its first sequel, his latest film was Total Recall, which only made Sony $58 million. It cost $125 million to make.
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