A new trailer for Universal’s The Mummy has been unveiled. Directed by Alex Kurtzman, the remake is intended to kick of a new interconnected series of Universal monster movies and stars Sofia Boutella as an ancient princess who is suddenly awakened in present day, where she unleashes her terror and malevolence on the modern world. Tom Cruise leads the cast, while the film boasts a script by Edge of Tomorrow scribe Christopher McQuarrie and Passengers writer Jon Spaihts.

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Image via Universal Pictures

This looks like it could be a bit of forgettable fun and seeing as Kurtzman is behind it, I'm willing to take a chance on that. The setting up of a cinematic universe, as this movie is doing with the meeting of Cruise as a...sort...of mummy and Russell Crowe as the infamous Doctor Henry Jekyll, is a laborious affair but there's no requirement for it to make for a tedious movie. For all his problematic issues outside of the movie business, Cruise remains an absolute thrill to watch on screen, even as the quality of his non-Mission Impossible projects has noticeably dipped. From what can be gleaned from the latest trailer, The Mummy could as easily be an exception to that as further proof of that fact.

The less-than-colorful look of the film worries me immensely, as it's the sign of a general disinterest with aesthetics, though certainly not an absolute one. The cast, which includes the likes of Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, and Courtney B. Vance, balances that out a bit and I'm grateful that the trailer doesn't give away the whole narrative arc like so many recent action films have. Ultimately, this is a movie that will live or die by its dialogue. If McQuarrie and Spaihts keep the laughs up and don't depend solely on platitudes, The Mummy could be exactly the kind of rip-roaring epic that makes audiences shovel in the popcorn. If not, we might not have a cinematic universe to return to in the coming years.

Watch the new trailer for The Mummy below, and catch it in theaters on June 9th.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Mummy:

Thought safely entombed in a tomb deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient princess (Sofia Boutella of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond) whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.

 

From the sweeping sands of the Middle East through hidden labyrinths under modern-day London, The Mummy brings a surprising intensity and balance of wonder and thrills in an imaginative new take that ushers in a new world of gods and monsters.

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Image via Universal Pictures
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Image via Universal Pictures
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Image via Universal Pictures
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Image via Universal Pictures
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Image via Universal Pictures

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