Sofia Boutella In Talks To Play The Mummy

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kingsman: The Secret Service's blade-legged henchwoman Sofia Boutella is in talks to play the villainous title role in the upcoming reboot of The Mummy. Universal Pictures have declined to comment on "any casting speculation", but this news comes hot on the heels of recent buzz that Tom Cruise is in talks to take the lead. The studio are planning to launch their own shared universe in the Marvel mould using the IP at their disposal; namely, their monsters. The word is that should The Mummy be a success, other options such as Dracula, Frankenstein, the Invisible Man and Van Helsing could take to the silver screen. Whilst Sofia Boutella fits the mould (and actually reminds me a lot of Patricia Velasquez in The Mummy Returns, see below), I think Universal's whole 'shared monsters universe' plan reeks of cash-grabbing cynicism. Lest we forget, the last time we had a bunch of horror icons smashed together, we got Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing.

Not to mention the fact that it's Alex Kurtzman in the director's chair, who is perhaps best known for pi**ing on everything you love by writing Star Trek Into Darkness, Transformers and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The script has been penned by Doctor Strange scribe Jon Spaihts, but time will tell whether that's a good thing or not. Sofia Boutella can next be seen in Star Trek Beyond, released on 22 July 2016. The Mummy is currently set to bow on 24 March 2017.