Back in June, ShockTilYouDrop mentioned that Resident Evil 3 helmer Russell Mulcahy was lined up to direct a prequel story to the massive shit pile that was The Scorpion King.
I thought it was hard to believe someone would direct the third and final film in a money making franchise only to head off to direct what could possibly be a nightmare based on a movie that only made money because it was The Rock’s first starring role and it was a spin-off from the highly successful Mummy franchise. Those facts taken into consideration it still didn’t crack the $100 million mark, which not only makes me wonder why Mulcahy would do it, but why producers Patti Jackson and Lisa Gooding would do it (notice I didn’t say Universal).
Everything points to yes, it looks like the whole shebang may actually be happening as Moviehole.net has a title and production start date for the flick.
The site reports that The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian is set to start shooting in South Africa on October 1 and is looking for someone to fill The Rock’s shoes. Luckily, The Rock was anything but The Rock in The Scorpion King, so charm and personality are not necessary if they are looking to continue the trend. But the site does say that the producers want their “Mathayus to reflect the charisma and comedic elements of the character created by The Rock, especially in his warm, relaxed and humorous relationship with Layla.” Maybe we saw different films.
Nevertheless, I can’t see how this doesn’t just go straight-to-video as it aims to tell the backstory of the Polynesian warrior and his relationship with long time love Layla. Then again, maybe the love story is what was really missing from The Scorpion King and this flick will fill in all the blanks and turn it into one big masterpiece.
