Michael Johnston is circling his first big role following Obsession becoming a box office juggernaut.
Johnston is in early talks to join The Mummy, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. If the deal makes, he would join Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, who starred in the late 1990s and 2000s takes on the Universal monster property.
Universal had no comment, but the move would keep Johnston in the Universal family, as Obsession is from the studio’s specialty label, Focus. Scream and Ready or Not filmmakers Radio Silence are directing for an Oct. 15, 2027 release date.
Johnston went from relative unknown to rising actor thanks to Obsession, the $750,000 indie film that Focus acquired out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The movie became a sensation, grossing more than $458 million globally. Before Obsession, he had credits in Teen Wolf, the indie Slash and Lionsgate’s Endangered Species. Johnston was without an agent when Obsession hit, and recently signed with Gersh in the wake of the film’s success.
As for The Mummy franchise, Stephen Sommers directed and co-wrote the 1999 version that starred Fraser and Weiss and was an adventure movie set in the 1920s. The pair starred in 2001’s Mummy Returns, while Weiss sat out 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
David Coggeshall penned the script for the new feature. Sean Daniel will produce after producing The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Tom Cruise’s 2017 The Mummy. Combined, the features have grossed $1.8 billion globally.
Also producing are Project X’s William Sherak, James Vanderbilt and Paul Neinstein, known for Nuremberg, the Scream franchise and The Night Agent series. Clayton Townsend will also produce, while Brendan Fraser and Hivemind’s Jason F. Brown will executive produce.
In addition to Gersh, Johnston is also repped by Tash Moseley Management, Atlas Talent Agency for voiceover, Narrative and Johnson Shapiro.
The Insneider first reported the news.
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