Obsession star Michael Johnston is in early talks to join The Mummy 4, which puts him alongside Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and John Hannah when the film hits theaters October 15, 2027 via Universal. Radio Silence directs. But the more interesting story is how Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett became the team Hollywood keeps calling when it needs someone to resurrect a franchise without breaking it.
When Entertainment Weekly asked Bettinelli-Olpin about bringing Rachel Weisz back after her absence from Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, his answer was four words:
Well, Rachel is in this one.
Dry, knowing, and exactly right. Gillett followed with something less guarded:
It’s just really, really beautiful and scary and sweeping, and it’s awesome.
Both registers at once, the wit and the genuine excitement. That combination is actually the whole Radio Silence career in miniature.
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The Pattern, How Radio Silence Built the Perfect Resume for Radio Silence The Mummy 4
The arc is not subtle once you see it. Ready or Not (2020) was proof of concept, a tight, subversive horror-comedy that demonstrated Radio Silence could balance tonal registers, deliver a satisfying payoff, and make an audience feel something. It earned $57 million worldwide on a reported $6 million budget. Small scale, maximum return. The industry noticed.
Then came the franchise test. Scream (2022) is not just any legacy property; it is the most booby-trapped IP in horror, built from the beginning to deconstruct the genre. Any sequel has to do meta-work that most franchise entries never require. Radio Silence delivered.
The film grossed $138 million on a $24 million budget and earned a sequel. They went back for Scream VI, pushed the franchise into New York, scaled everything up, and finished with $168.6 million worldwide. Two franchise entries in two years at that level is an impressive portfolio.
The Mummy 4 is the next step, and the scale jump is real. The 1999 film has a devoted millennial fandom and nearly three decades of cultural weight behind it. When producer William Sherrick first proposed reuniting Fraser and Weisz, Gillett’s reaction was honest:
That’d be f—ing crazy. There’s no way William’s gonna pull it off.
They said yes anyway. And Gillett on what that fandom actually means:
I am so stoked about that. Anytime entertainment can have an effect on your personal life, what an amazing thing.
Worth noting: the screenplay was written by David Coggeshall, who also wrote Scream VI for Radio Silence. Same writer, same directors, new franchise. The project came together during production on Abigail (2024), also a Radio Silence film, which means their next assignment was conceived while they were still finishing the previous one.
The Stakes, What This Means for Legacy Horror
Radio Silence’s arc maps onto something bigger. Studios are increasingly handing legacy IP to horror directors who have built credibility within the genre rather than outside it. Mike Flanagan is rebuilding The Mist from its foundations while also adapting Carrie for Amazon Prime. Zach Cregger went from Barbarian straight to Resident Evil, describing it as the most violent film he has ever made. Adam Wingard is building a connected universe around The Guest while expanding into larger properties with Onslaught. The model is consistent: earn trust in the genre, inherit IP with cultural weight, don’t lose the genre identity along the way.
Radio Silence has been the clearest practitioners of that model. If The Mummy 4 works, if they can make a 1999 franchise feel alive in 2027, they will not just have made a successful sequel. They will have validated a career strategy and potentially set the template for the next generation of horror directors who want to work at scale without leaving the genre behind.