Quendrith Johnson

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

Oh, admit it, the team of OG Box Office Ballers Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe in Universal’s new take on THE MUMMY slated for June 9 has definite possibilities, even if Russell Crowe is a wry scale-tipper these days, mostly divining water in indie films. Plus it’s an IMAX® hair-raiser.

Tom Cruise, or TC to friends, is such a hot-button actor for his off-screen activities that it’s almost like a Kevin Bacon game of interconnections, but mostly interstellar ones in TC’s case. At a certain point you just have to smile and remember it’s about the movies, not the man himself — although TC has an uncanny ability to pick winners in the storytelling category, even detractors can’t argue his bottom-line earnings.

That said, let’s give the boys a chance here because they’re bringing The Mummy storyline back as a female-driven ghoul show. Not to ruin the plot, but hell hath no CGI-empire-smashing-fury like a chick who’s been buried for a very long time.

In fact, this sexy crone isn’t just breaking a glass ceiling, she’s ripping the lid off major cities like London. All this with the power of two-pupil mind-control eyeballs, mind you.

Girls just want to have fun, as the Cyndi Lauper lyric goes, unless of course they’re back from the undead and none-to-happy about their demise.

Watch the trailer here, full cast and credits below. Also, the no-subtext official description follows.

Thinking they’ll top the BO worldwide with the Russell & TC show, baggage and love handles and all, lol, mostly because it's a VR eyefest. Virtual Reality is the go-to these days to pull people off their gaming consoles and into the theaters.

Why You’re Going to Love THE MUMMY

Tom Cruise headlines a spectacular, all-new cinematic version of the legend that has fascinated cultures all over the world since the dawn of civilization: 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.

Cruise is joined by a cast including Annabelle Wallis (upcoming King Arthur, television’s Peaky Blinders), Jake Johnson (Jurassic World), Courtney B. Vance (TV’s American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson) and Oscar® winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator). The creative team on this action-adventure event is led by director/producer Alex Kurtzman and producer Chris Morgan, who have been instrumental in growing some of the most successful franchises of the past several years—with Kurtzman writing or producing entries in the Transformers, Star Trek and Mission: Impossible series, and Morgan being the narrative engineer of the Fast & Furious saga as it has experienced explosive growth from its third chapter on.

Sean Daniel, who produced the most recent Mummy trilogy, produces alongside Kurtzman and Morgan. www.themummy.com

Production Team = Positron and Voyager

Founded in 2014, Positron is a technology studio based in Los Angeles that delivers engineering magic.  The team includes mechatronics engineers, designers, software developers and artists who collaborate together to create VR experiences and products that have never been done before.  Voyager is the first full-motion chair platform designed for cinematic VR. Integrating beautiful design and high-end engineering, it reflects a passion for VR storytelling. Voyager delivers a completely new level of immersion in VR by providing a comfortable, fully integrated personal VR theater that incorporates gentle motorized yaw and pitch motion, haptic feedback (physical audio powered by Subpac), and specialized seating. Its unique software and hardware technology integration enables nuanced motion and haptic tracks to be encoded along the featured content’s visual and spatial audio tracks. The chair precisely guides the viewers’ attention to points of interest in the experience, while also allowing a viewer-controlled motion mode. Voyager units are available now for select theaters, hotels, concerts, and events that desire to provide a premium VR experience. For Voyager images please visit Positron Media.

THE MUMMY arrives in IMAX® and theaters nationwide on Friday, June 9, 2017. www.themummy.com

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