News reaches us, courtesy of TMZ.com, that Brendan Fraser has signed on to star in an as-yet untitled third instalment of The Mummy series, with filming set to start next year for a 2008 summer release.

Intriguingly, though, Stephen Sommers - who wrote and directed the first two instalments, 1999's surprise hit The Mummy, and its blunderbuss sequel The Mummy Returns in 2001 - will not return, with Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the dudes behind Smallville, penning the script, while Joe Johnston is reportedly in negotiations to direct.

No word yet on whether the likes of Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, the utterly badass Oded Fehr and the ever-shining chrome dome of the Mummy himself, Arnold Vosloo, will also return. But Weisz has an Oscar and a hot career now, so we're guessing that Fraser's laconic adventurer, Rick O'Connell, will be cracking wise and fighting CG creatures without his lady wife, Evelyn.

If you detect a note of cynicism, it's perhaps because we've got our cynicism-o-meter turned up to 11 on this one. Don't get us wrong - both Mummy pictures are fine, fun blockbusters, filled with nice effects and the odd bit of clever humour (Fraser's character, in particular, is a nice pisstake of macho Indiana Jones-type heroes), although The Mummy Returns did suffer from Too Many Cooks syndrome to the extent that it has become synonymous with budgetary excess and a story that just doesn't know when to quit - a bit like this sentence.

But the main concern is: do we really need a Mummy 3? In 2001, when The Mummy Returns had swept to a $433 million worldwide gross, it seemed certain that a third part of an unintentional trilogy would soon follow. Instead, we got the Rock-starring spin-off, The Scorpion King, while Sommers went off to direct Van Helsing instead, and after that movie’s failure, he’s spent the last three years flirting with a succession of projects. That none of those was The Mummy 3 speaks volumes.

In Hollywood, seven years is a long time, and it’s hard to imagine that by 2008 audiences will be flocking to a movie continuing a franchise they’d long assumed dead. It’s understandable that Fraser has signed on, though – we love the guy, he’s a good actor, combining leading man looks with dramatic chops and a nice line in irony, but his career since The Mummy Returns has faltered somewhat with good turns in the likes of Crash, The Quiet American and a tear-jerking recurring role in the godlike sitcom, Scrubs. But star roles and big hits have not been forthcoming.

So, just because we’d like to see the big fella have another shot at the big time, we hope The Mummy 3 turns out alright. But we’re not exactly holding our breath…

You lot arnt saying no to indy four are you and that will be 25 years since last one...or even when the first star wars trilogy finished, like 2 dacades later and we got another trilogy, you lot wenrt moaning about another trilogy, and return of the jedi did falter slightly...so there..... More

Maybe, just maybe, Sean Connery could play his father. He'll run away from boulders and such and... ah nevermind, it'll never work. Quite frankly I can see this film going the same way as every other '3rd in the series!' movie lately. Over bloated, over the top with SFX, lacking in plot(s), full of holes and leaving you wondering why they haven't stopped already. I won't believe this film will be worth watching until it comes out, hopefully it'll prove me wrong and be a great romp, more than li More

L: fanappy
it makes no sense 2 make a third, all the ends were tied up and should be left tied up and this film should never to see the light of day, esp. with out Sommers. Come on Hollywood where is all the inspiration new films not more sequels
sp;
nderstand them wanting to cash in on a third but like the article says. Brendan Fraser is not the big star people thought he'd be after the Mummy films also its been 7 or 8 years since the last one. Maybe i'd go and c this but More

i'm a little less than enthusiastic about this one. but, having said that i enjoyed (and own actually) both previous mummies. so, i won't say this is a waste of time coz it's not, it's not needed, but if it turns out alright it'll be worth going 2 see it. More

I'll admit we don't need a new Mummy movie at all, actually we didn't need The Mummy Returns. Does this mean I'll give The Mummy 3 a miss? No! Of course I'll watch it. I loved both of the movies and they were what cinema desperately needs, light entertainment. Pirates did it well and The Mummy as well. With Indiana 4 seemingly taking forever we might as well go for the alternatives. It'll be pure pop corn entertainment. :( More

I liked The Mummy and I enjoy Smallville so a combination of the both should be good. However, my only complaint would be that Smallville is sometimes very linear, whereas the Mummy 1 & 2 never had this problem, lets hope that this is the case for the closing chapter, rather than a dry predicatable kids film (a 15 cert would be nice). More

I loved the Mummy movies, and if you watch the second one it's an object lesson in how to do a proper summer blockbuster, it has humour and story and a big action sequence about once every 10 minutes. Too bad Sommers aint gonna be back, I heard he might have been working on a remake of Jason and the Argonauts? More

im lookin forward to this! Fraiser is a great actor (just watch his eps of scrubs for proof! i cried like a child when he died!) and im not so sure about wiez turning it down! Didnt she recently get booed at her latest film? Shes done a risk movie now its maybe time to do something safe! Maybe they could do a film with Fraiser's character exploring with his son! (altho not the annoying kid from returns!) but surely they need some kind of mummy related villian for this too actually work as More

The Mummy.
The Mummy Returns.
The Mummy Forever?
Which of course means we get unfortunate mess of a film that will be The Mummy and Robin before going back several years later for the an awesome prequel The Mummy Begins. More

It remains to be seen, but if Fraser is the only star to return and Sommers isn't directing (not that I think he's that good anyway), this could fall into a straight to video low budget disaster.... Bad idea all round. More

it makes no sense 2 make a third, all the ends were tied up and should be left tied up and this film should never to see the light of day, esp. with out Sommers. Come on Hollywood where is all the inspiration new films not more sequels More