Last fall, it was revealed that Universal was putting together a reboot of 'The Mummy.' A classic property from the days of the black-and-white monsters, Universal had made a considerable amount of money re-imagining the property in the last 90s as a family-friendly adventure film starring Brendan Fraser that then spawned multiple sequels. The new reboot, which would be directed by Len Wiseman, was apparently going to be much darker and scarier than the Fraser films. Jon Spaihts ('Prometheus') was hired to pen the script. Now Universal has also hired 'Hunger Games' co-writer Billy Ray to work on the script. Well, point of fact, Ray has been hired to write a competing Mummy script. The studio insider who leaked the information seems to think one of the writers will be a "structure and body man" while the other will handle the characters and dialogue; the two drafts then potentially smashed together into something useable.

If this isn't a sign that we shouldn't get our hopes up for this new Mummy movie, I don't know what is. Universal has hired two writers, not to work together on the script, but instead actually pitted them against each other on the same project to ensure that at least one draft will be useable. Then, at the end, they'll piecemeal a final draft from the best aspects of two completely different stories; stories on which two completely different writers have not collaborated? Yeah, that sounds like the perfect way to ensure quality. This is one of those instances in which I really hope the insider studio source is wrong. I would gladly accept having to post and addendum or even an out and out retraction over this thoughtless, slapdash mechanized joke being Universal's actual writing process for 'The Mummy.' I was intrigued by the idea of a scarier version of the ancient, wrapped-up monster, even if the studio did inexplicably hire Len Wiseman to direct, but once again it looks like Universal is letting their fear of failure outweigh their reason here.

What do you guys think? Could this bizarre dueling script process work? Does this news adversely affect your expectations for the new 'Mummy?'

Source: Vulture