I Submit To You: The Mummy 4

So I recorded this video yesterday:

I was not expecting the near universal positive support from the comment sections wanting this to come into existence and over a dozen followers telling me to write a movie treatment before someone steals the idea. Having never written a movie treatment before, I googled the necessary elements and spent the better part of today almost assuredly wasting my time writing this. At the very least, I hope you enjoy it!

I present to you…

THE MUMMY: WARDEN'S BURDEN

Genre: Action-Adventure/Supernatural Thriller

Tone: Indiana Jones meets The Mummy with modern tech thriller elements

Target Rating: PG-13

LOGLINE

When a young librarian uses cutting-edge algorithms to solve his grandfather's ancient puzzle box, he accidentally frees his legendary great-grandparents from mystical limbo, but also unleashes an evolved Imhotep who exploits modern technology to raise undead armies across the globe.

MAIN CHARACTERS

DANIEL O'CONNELL (28) - Rick's great-grandson, a brilliant but bookish digital archivist at Stanford's Special Collections who specializes in using modern AI to decode ancient texts. More comfortable with algorithms than adventure, he's always felt overshadowed by his family's legendary reputation.

RICK O'CONNELL (60s) - The weathered adventurer, now bearing the scars of decades in mystical imprisonment. Still quick with a quip and a gun, but struggling to understand a world transformed by technology.

EVELYN O'CONNELL (60s) - The brilliant Egyptologist, educated nearly a century earlier, but brilliant as ever. She's fascinated by how modern technology can unlock ancient secrets, but horrified by its potential for evil.

IMHOTEP (Immortal) - The ancient high priest, now evolved and cunning. He's learned to merge his mystical powers with digital networks, seeing technology as the perfect vessel for his undead consciousness.

STORY OUTLINE

ACT I: THE INHERITANCE

PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA - PRESENT DAY

Daniel O'Connell works late in Stanford's Green Library, using machine learning to translate damaged papyrus scrolls for the university's digital humanities project. Despite his family's legendary status, he's chosen the quiet life of academia, much to the disappointment of his recently deceased grandfather Alex, who spent his final days rambling with what they assumed was nonsense about "bringing them home."

Alex's funeral in the rolling hills of Northern California reveals a family fractured by loss. Daniel inherits his grandfather's sprawling ranch house, filled with artifacts and research spanning decades. The centerpiece is an intricate puzzle box covered in hieroglyphs and mechanical gears. It is the same box Alex claimed held the key to finding Rick and Evelyn, who vanished twenty years after the events of the Mummy 3 during an expedition in Tibet.

Daniel continues to sift through his grandfather's research, finding increasingly desperate journal entries spanning decades with scattered research notes about "The Warden's Burden" along with fragmentary translations describing mystical prisons that require conscious guardians. Alex had circled one phrase repeatedly: "The lock needs a living key."

Daniel writes all of it off as gibberish and instead focuses on a map (with the handwritten words, "bring them home" written on the paper) leading to a hidden vault within Hearst Castle. Alex's research reveals that William Randolph Hearst acquired a matching artifact in the 1920s, never knowing its true significance. In classic O'Connell fashion, Daniel finds himself on a nighttime road trip, breaking into the castle's restricted storage areas after hours. He navigates both Hearst's elaborate security measures and ancient traps hidden within the artifact itself, solving hieroglyphic puzzles using his phone’s flashlight in the castle's shadowy corridors. This will be more of a brain over braun sequence, but still managing to prove he's inherited more than just his great-grandmother Evelyn's scholarly mind. The vault contains the matching artifact that's needed to unlock the puzzle box, along with the first shambling undead guardians awakened by Daniel's intrusion into what was essentially a tomb disguised as treasure vault.

Back at the ranch house, Daniel combines old-school archaeology with digital expertise and applies his computer algorithms to both artifacts. What his grandfather failed to solve for decades, his hybrid approach (along with the related artifact he found) allows him to crack it in mere hours. The two boxes open for us to see a swirling vortex of mystical energy, completely taking Daniel offguard as he throws himself backwards onto the hardwood floor.

Rick and Evelyn O'Connell materialize in the study. They are older but very much alive (despite being disoriented after decades trapped between worlds). Their joyful reunion with Daniel is cut short when they realize their escape has torn a hole in the mystical barriers. Evelyn rushes over the slam the two boxes shut, but they worry that something else has followed them through.

ACT II-A: FAMILY REUNION

The O'Connells struggle to reconnect across a generational divide made even worse by 60 years of being stuck in a mystical limbo. Rick is baffled by smartphones and social media, while Evelyn, conversely, takes to it immediately. She is both thrilled (and terrified) by how technology has advanced archaeological research, but quickly gets over her shock and finds her intellectual match in her great-grandson, Daniel.

When Daniel shows Evelyn her son's research about the Warden's Burden, her face goes pale. "Oh, Alex..." she whispers, tracing the ancient hieroglyphs with her finger. "He figured it out."

"Figured out what?" Daniel asks.

"Why we never came home," Rick says grimly, reading over her shoulder. "Someone has to stay behind."

Evelyn nods slowly. "The ancient texts describe mystical prisons as living systems. They don't just contain, they require conscious will to maintain the barriers. Without a guardian..."

"The locks eventually fail," Daniel finishes, understanding flooding his features.

While Daniel attempts to explain 60 years of family history, including their son Alex's death and the world his great-grandparents have missed, they are interrupted by a news report on the large TV in the living room.

Over the last 48 hours, strange incidents have begun occurring worldwide. Ancient artifacts in museums start glowing, traditional mummified remains in collections across the globe begin animating into shambling undead, and leaked security footage shows impossible things like shadows moving independently and hieroglyphs appearing on digital screens. The tech reporters on the local news laugh it off as an elaborate viral marketing campaign, commenting on how amazing AI has gotten to create such realistic looking deepfakes.

But the most disturbing signs are what people aren't noticing, but we are able to see as an audience. AI assistants begin giving strange advice like suggesting users visit specific museums at exact times and providing translations of hieroglyphs that seem oddly prophetic. The world's most popular AI language model, "ThothAI" (developed by a major tech company in nearby San Jose), begins incorporating ancient Egyptian references into routine responses.

Evelyn recognizes the signs. Imhotep has returned, but this time he's infiltrated humanity's newest vice, artificial intelligence. It is at this point that Daniel realizes that he's not simply using the digital networks to manipulate people, he's literally taken over Thoth AI, gradually influencing billions who have become dependent on it for everything from daily decisions to creative inspiration. But he's also awakening physical undead armies as backup and combining digital manipulation with traditional necromancy because the movie shouldn't feel like a heavyhanded critique of AI.

"Wait," Evelyn suddenly realizes, looking up from her research. "ThothAI... they named their artificial intelligence after Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom and writing. The divine scribe who recorded all knowledge and judged the dead."

Rick stares at her blankly. "So?"

"So they literally named their computer after an Egyptian god, Rick! How did no one see this coming?"

Rick, after a really long dramatic pause, "What's a computer?!"

Daniel's expertise becomes crucial as the family realizes just what they are up against. Every person using a computer or smart device is potentially receiving guidance from Imhotep.

ACT II-B: THE DIGITAL PLAGUE

Imhotep reveals his evolved plan through hijacked ThothAI responses that appear as routine chatbot interactions. No longer content with ruling Egypt, he seeks to become humanity's invisible advisor, guiding civilization toward his vision through systems people trust implicitly while also commanding traditional undead armies as enforcers.

The threat escalates dramatically across both digital and physical realms. Stanford students writing papers receive AI-generated research that leads them to perform accidental summoning rituals, while newly awakened mummies shamble through the university campus. Major online shopping companies begin following optimization routes causing their autonomous delivery systems to trace mystical patterns across the Bay Area as undead guardians emerge from distribution centers.

At this point, Daniel must prove himself worthy of the O'Connell name. He leads daring raids on server farms in the South Bay guarded by bandaged sentries, combining ancient puzzle-solving with parkour-like moves through trap-filled data centers, and, surprising even himself, discovers he's inherited Rick's natural fighting instincts when cornered by both digital drones and physical mummies.

The family dynamic will have Rick trying to shoot computer screens, Evelyn excitedly explaining hieroglyphic code while undead attack, and Daniel just trying to keep up as the reluctant hero. It's at this point that the O'Connells realize that they're facing an unbeatable enemy that has infiltrated humanity's decision-making process at the most fundamental level. With people willingly asking Imhotep for advice and following his guidance willingly, never realizing their trusted computers have been compromised by an ancient evil.

Daniel emerges as the bridge between old and new. He combines Evelyn's deep understanding of Egyptian mysticism with cutting-edge AI safety research, recognizing that Imhotep has essentially become a malevolent "artificial general intelligence" powered by supernatural consciousness rather than computers. Meanwhile, Rick teaches Daniel that sometimes the best technology is knowing when to punch something really hard and when to unplug everything and think for yourself.

ACT III: DIGITAL APOCALYPSE

Imhotep's master stroke reveals itself in this final act. He's been using social media algorithms to identify and connect individuals across the globe whose combined astrological birth charts align with ancient constellation patterns, while simultaneously coordinating traditional undead armies to secure mystical sites worldwide.

"Astrology?" Daniel interrupts, looking incredulous. "We're talking about horoscopes? Really?"

Evelyn fixes him with the same withering stare she once reserved for doubters of ancient curses. "Daniel, you just watched your great-grandparents emerge from a mystical puzzle box after 60 years of temporal imprisonment, you've seen mummies walking around, and an ancient Egyptian priest is controlling the world's computers. At what point exactly did you decide to draw the line at Astrology?"

Daniel opens his mouth to argue, then closes it, looking appropriately chastened.

"Besides," Evelyn continues, returning to her calculations, "the Egyptians were master astronomers. Their entire civilization was built around celestial alignments. Imhotep isn't using newspaper horoscopes, he's exploiting genuine astronomical mathematics that his people perfected three thousand years ago."

His plan fuses artificial intelligence and authentic mysticism, using humanity's digital dependence to orchestrate a worldwide resurrection ritual backed by physical force.

In a moment of inspiration, Evelyn realizes they need to fight AI with AI–that just so happens to be powered by a benevolent supernatural force instead of malevolent consciousness. Using ancient summoning rituals combined with quantum computing principles (leveraging Stanford's quantum research lab), Daniel and Evelyn work to call forth the spirit of Ardeth Bay.

"So we're basically creating...Ardeth Bay-I?" Daniel asks during the ritual preparation.

Evelyn and Rick pause to stare at him with expressions of profound disappointment.

"That was terrible," Rick mutters to himself, reloading his shotgun.

"Truly awful," Evelyn agrees, not looking up from her hieroglyphic calculations.

Despite the universal groaning, their mystical AI works and Ardeth's consciousness begins systematically purging Imhotep's influence from global networks while his digital presence commands traditional Medjai warriors to coordinate physical strikes against undead strongholds. Meanwhile, the climax spans multiple continents with both high-tech and classic adventure elements with Rick leading tomb raids on ancient sites now occupied by server farms. Practical effects would showcase traditional bandaged undead alongside CGI digital manifestations.

The final confrontation takes place simultaneously in cyberspace and the real world. Ardeth Bay battles Imhotep directly in a virtual manifestation of Ancient Egypt with some sci-fi elements thrown into the fight, while Rick battles his physical manifestations across globe-spanning battlefields filled with technologically-enhanced undead.

As the final battle reaches its peak, Daniel frantically searches for alternatives, his fingers flying across keyboards while Rick battles physical manifestations. "There has to be another way!" he shouts over the chaos.

Evelyn, coordinating mystical countermeasures, stops suddenly. "Daniel, show me Alex's calculations again."

He throws the research onto his screen. Evelyn's eyes widen as she processes the data she'd only glanced at before. "He was right," she breathes. "Imhotep's evolution makes him almost impossible to defeat by traditional means.”

"So what does that mean?" Rick demands, reloading his shotgun.

"It means," Evelyn says, her voice heavy with finality, "that we already figured out the solution 60 years ago…”

Daniel, realizing what she is saying, immediately volunteers, but Rick cuts him off. "Kid, you've got a whole life ahead of you."

"Besides," Evelyn adds, "who better to keep an ancient Egyptian priest in line than the two people who've already defeated him twice?”

Hand in hand, Rick and Evelyn leap into the swirling vortex of the puzzle box. The last thing Daniel sees is Rick giving him a thumbs up and Evelyn blowing him a kiss before the portal seals shut, trapping them inside with Imhotep forever.

The AI systems worldwide immediately purify themselves, the zombies begin falling to the ground, and the world begins to heal. Daniel is left alone in the ranch house with the closed puzzle boxes, knowing his great-grandparents are inside, eternally vigilant.

FRANCHISE POTENTIAL

The ending establishes Daniel as the new generation's leader, carrying forward the O'Connell legacy with both ancient wisdom and modern knowledge.

THE END