Alex Kurtzman

Now that The Mummy is hitting theaters this weekend, it’s time for Universal to get started on the rest of their Dark Universe films. The slate currently includes creatures like the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frankenstein‘s monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and so forth, but there’s one that’s a little more intriguing than the rest — partly because, in her film, she hardly even gets to speak. The Bride of Frankenstein is currently in early development, with a script by David Koepp that, if what he says is true, gives the character an agency that she lacked in her original movie.

Tom Cruise is an analog man in a digital world. A master showman, he seems to understand better than almost all of his peers that no amount of computer-generated imagery can replace the simple thrill an audience gets seeing a real person do something incredible. For over 100 years, this has been one of the fundamental appeals of cinema: Watching an actor perform an impossible (and sometimes stupidly dangerous) physical act. There is no length Cruise won’t go to for our entertainment. Even when his movies are bad, Cruise still gives 110 percent, still provides at least a few mind-boggling stunts to enjoy.

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?

Universal is going dark.

Mother’s Day might be this weekend, but we’ll have to wait another week for Universal Pictures’ just-announced Mummy Day, a.k.a. a whole day, starting at noon on May 20, dedicated to erecting a 75-foot-tall sarcophagus at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles. Oh, and Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, and director Alex Kurtzman will be there too.

If we’re being honest with each other, I’m not typically a big fan of behind-the-scenes videos and features. These days they all seem the same: an actor jumps in front of a blue background and lands on a blue foam pad, and everyone stands up and smiles at each other for a job well done. My one big exception is Tom Cruise movies. Cruise’s action films are a testament to doing things the hard way, so every highlight reel of the actor slamming into cars, hitting his head against walls, or getting punched in the face is a testament to a dying trade.

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.

The first trailer for The Mummy hit the internet last night, and it left us with a lot of questions about Alex Kurtzman’s new action-horror flick, such as: Has Tom Cruise always shouted “whoa!” like an early ’90s teen TV character, or are we just now noticing it? (It’s delightful, by the way.) Is Kurtzman a fan of Queen of the Damned? (This seems implied by Sofia Boutella’s titular villain, but ya never know.) And chiefly — inspired by the brief cameo from Russell Crowe’s Dr. Jekyll — how will Kurtzman’s film pave the way for his larger monster movie universe?

Just yesterday we learned that Russell Crowe is in talks to play Dr. Jekyll opposite Tom Cruise in The Mummy, and while Universal has yet to confirm that casting, they have released the first official synopsis for the reboot. The plot description makes some hefty promises for Alex Kurtzman’s directorial debut, which is meant to kickstart a new shared universe of action-packed horror movies based on the studio’s classic monsters.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve heard a lot about Universal’s plans for a new shared universe of movies based on their classic monsters, and yet only one of those films — The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise — is currently in production. The studio has plans for a few more horror reboots from the creative team of Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, and it looks like one of those movies has a release date — but which one?