This isn't a problem because I don't like Maria Bello. I actually like Maria Bello. She is a talented and gorgeous actress, but, based on the first two Mummy films I saw, she is not Evie.

This also doesn't mean that I think Weisz makes or breaks the film. It means, if she wasn't willing to come back to a role she seemed to enjoy playing and even said back in September of 2006:

I know there's a new script but I haven't read it yet. Nothing's definite yet and should the film be done, it's probably going to happen next summer. And if so, I would definitely like to be in it.

Maybe I am making too much of this and the film will be good popcorn fun. I hope so. I would love to add it to my collection and seal the trilogy. I love watching the first two films as mindless departures from reality and I would hate it if a third film slightly tainted my memory of the franchise. I was able to slough off The Scorpion King because it wasn't exactly "part of the franchise" but this one is called The Mummy making it a little harder to do.