Universal has announced that it is looking to bring The Mummy franchise back from the dead once again. The studio is planning on a reboot of the already rebooted series, which like a lot of Hollywood is a safe move.

And no, Brendan Fraser probably won’t be attached.

Universal has already rebooted the series once with Stephen Sommers’ loose 1999 remake of 1932’s original Mummy movie. That film spawned a myriad of sequels, including spinoffs of like the Scorpion King,which had spinoffs of its own.  Now the film is getting a reboot by Prometheus co-writer Jon Spaihts.

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There’s an old saying that goes something like “don’t fix something if it isn’t broken”. The people that manage Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s career obviously know this saying very well. When he broke the bank in Disney’s The Game Plan, they thought it may be a good idea to use him in a reboot of the classic Escape from Witch Mountain film.

That movie raked in millions as well, so what’s next? How about a sequel to a film from only a few years ago that was so bad, it forced Brendan Fraser out of the acting game completely. That’s where Journey 2: The Mysterious Island comes into play. Here’s the Rock-centered premise.

Young adventurer Sean (Josh Hutcherson) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist–a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret. Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather (Johnson) joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot (Guzman( and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant (Caine) and escape before seismic shock waves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

Can this franchise be saved by Dwayne’s comedic charm? Or will this fall under the umbrella of “bad ideas” that New Line has masterminded over the past years? Decide for yourself after the jump with the first trailer. Journey 2 hits theaters February 10th.

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Brendan Fraser will not be returning to the Journey to the Center of the Earth franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.   Fraser dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, so the torch will now be passed to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for the next installment of the adventure series, entitled Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.

Johnson will not reprise Fraser’s role in the sequel.  He will play the boyfriend of the mother of aspiring adventurer Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson.)

Family friendly Journey to the Center of the Earth was one of the first films to capitalize on the 3D craze, and earned over $100M domestically, and $250 worldwide.

The sequel will be based on Jules Verne’s  The Mysterious Island.  Johnson will join Anderson’s character on a quest to find his missing grandfather on a mysterious island. The film will be shot and released in 3D. Filming is to begin in late October

Johnson has established himself as a bankable anchor for recent family dramas The Tooth Fairy ($58M) and Race to Witch Mountain ($67M.) He also appeared in The Mummy Returns opposite Brendan Fraser.

Next up for Johnson is the action thriller Faster, coming out around Thanksgiving.

There are lots of puns that could be mined from the title, but the truth is, Extraordinary Measures is a movie that is much better suited to the small screen. It is a mediocre film at best, but I suppose some people might be find its story of triumph over insurmountable odds moving. The crowd I saw the film with seemed to enjoy it a lot more than I did.

The film is loosely based on the book The Cure, by Geeta Anand, which chronicles the true story of the Crowley family and their battle with pompe disease (a neuromuscular disorder related to muscular dystrophy). It follows their race to find a treatment  before two of their three children die from the disease. Having one child with this horrible disease is horrible enough, having two is incomprehensible.

Brendan Fraser plays John Crowley, a father who risks his job, his family , and his sanity on a desperate gamble to find a treatment.  Late nights spent poring over the Internet eventually lead him to a renegade scientist, Robert Stonewell (Harrison Ford).

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Here’s a list of new movies and tv shows coming out on DVD today. Plus, some old favorites coming out on Blu-Ray.

New Movies:

* Confessions of a Shopaholic – Isla Fisher, Leslie Bibb, and Hugh Dancy (DVD and Blu-Ray)

* Inkheart – Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, and Jim Broadbent (DVD and Blu-Ray)

* Pink Panther 2 – Steve Martin, Jeremy Irons, Alfred Molina, Jean Reno, and John Cleese (DVD and Blu-Ray)

* Waltz With Bashir – Ari Folman, Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, and Dror Harazi

* Dragon Hunters – Forest Whitaker (Blu-Ray)

* The Code – Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas, and Radha Mitchell (DVD and Blu-Ray)

* Bob Funk – Rachael Leigh Cook, Amy Ryan, Grace Zabriskie, and Eddie Jemison (DVD)

* Phoebe in Wonderland – Elle Fanning, Patricia Clarkson, Felicity Huffman, and Bill Pullman (DVD)

Classic Movies:

* My Dinner with Andre (Criterion Collection) – Andre Gregory, Jean Lenauer, Wallace Shawn, and Roy Butler

* The Pianist – Adrien Brody, Frank Finlay, Thomas Kretschmann, and Maureen Lipman (Blu-Ray)

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