Sofia Boutella

As we gradually approach a Fahrenheit 451-type juncture in the real world, HBO Films has kindly taken the edge off by announcing their plans to mount a new adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel. It was surprising but enticing news when it broke a couple of months ago, boasting a flashy pair of headliners in Michael B. Jordan (portraying Guy Montag, an professional book-burner who comes to question the ethics of his work) and Michael Shannon (as Beatty, Guy’s boss and mentor who doesn’t take too kindly to his protege’s radical new thoughts). And today, in an all-too-timely casting notice, a third star has upped the profile of this big-ticket TV movie even further.

We’re less than a week away from Universal’s latest attempt to launch a Dark Universe, and fans are still uncertain as to what’s in store for their favorite iconic horror characters. With stars like Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe on board, will The Mummy be more action-packed than horrific? Does Cruise have another hit franchise on his hands  —  to go along with the Mission: Impossible and Jack Reacher films  —  or will fans wish that this particular mummy had remained dead?

Aside from the unceasing public scrutiny, being an A-list actor doesn’t seem so bad. You get paid obscene amounts of money, meet interesting people, and get to travel all across this green Earth in the name of work. And today, you can share in that last part with none other than professional shirtless runner Tom Cruise! Universal will unwrap The Mummy a week from this Friday, and to further stoke excitement for the launch of their new, hilariously-named Dark Universe, the studio has unveiled a video featurette in which star Cruise brings the viewer on a tour of the far-flung locations on which the film was shot.

June 9 is gonna be a big day in 2017: not just this writer’s birthday, not just the funniest numerical date of the year (6/9 — nice), not just the release of well-pedigreed indies Beatriz at Dinner and It Comes at Night. The day will undoubtedly be dominated by the grand debut of Universal’s remake of The Mummy starring box-office king of summer Tom Cruise and breakout star Sofia Boutella. We’ve seen the trailer, we’ve pored over the scoop that Cruise’s mummy-fighting hero will also himself be a walking-dead type, and we’ve pondered the larger implications of Universal going all-in on a connected universe of monster movies. And today, a pair of new tidbits with slake our thirst for new Mummy details.

To understand why I’m more excited than most for The Mummy, it’s important to make a list of all the things that I’m a sucker for. Tom Cruise movies? Check. Trailers or commercials that use the Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint it Black’ as a musical cue? Check-check. Movies where soldiers fight monsters? Check-check-check. In fact, if you do the math, the only thing on my Hollywood wishlist that the second The Mummy trailer doesn’t deliver is a John Wick-style gunfight, and there’s still time. One of those might still find its way into the final movie.

Universal’s The Mummy will soon be upon us, poised to unleash its wrath of ancient magic, curses, and hopefully a lot less bloodthirsty scarabs than the Brendan Fraser version. While you wait for Sunday’s new trailer, please enjoy the new teaser above, as well as a brand-new poster featuring the terrifying Princess Ahmanet.

Universal’s grand plan for world domination, or at least an intertextually connected universe of highly profitable event films, has been put in motion. Their Dracula Untold laid the groundwork by introducing fiction’s most famous vampire into the mix, solo projects for Frankenstein’s monster, the Invisible Man, and monster hunter Van Helsing have all been established, and now The Mummy, the first piece of the puzzle (let’s do Universal a service and call Dracula Untold a warm-up, they can take a mulligan on that one), is set to be unveiled.

It’s been a little while since the last update on Deadpool 2, so we’re definitely due for some fresh news — like this casting report, which suggests that several great actresses are on Fox’s shortlist for the role of Domino, a character who has been consistently rumored for the highly-anticipated sequel. According to the latest rumor, the studio is eyeing a handful of stars to play the mutant mercenary (and X-Force member), including Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Kingsman favorite Sofia Boutella.

Listen, I won’t pretend to know whether I’m supposed to be excited about the new Universal Studios monster movies or not. Like most of you, I do get a little bit of a headache every time a studio boss utters the words “shared universe,” but no matter how cynicism I try and muster for the new Tom Cruise remake of The Mummy, I just can’t. It has Tom Cruise! Running around London! Fighting a gosh-darn mummy! Yeah, that’s right, I’m an easy mark.

Following last weekend’s debut of that great new trailer for Star Trek Beyond, Paramount has released a whole bunch of official stills from the upcoming sequel. The images offer new looks at Sofia Boutella’s alien character, along with Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto’s Spock and Simon Pegg’s Scotty (and that little rascal Keenser) — speaking of which, Pegg has also offered some details on that mysterious space station you may have spotted in the most recent trailer.