Tom Cruise To Replace Hugh Jackman In 'Van Helsing' Reboot

No Hugh Jackman? No problem. Universal Pictures wants another stab at "Van Helsing" with another bankable handsome face taking the reins.

E! News reports that when Universal reboots the 2004 Stephen Sommers turkey as planned, it won't be the "X-Men" and "Real Steel" star playing the bloodsucker-hunting titular hero, but "Mission: Impossible" mainstay Tom Cruise.

This time, it will be Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci crafting the script instead of Sommers. If one's to reboot a franchise, they're a couple choices that should head anybody's list: they previously penned between them the first of the fruit shaken from the "Transformers" money tree, J.J. Abrams' 2013 "Star Trek 2" and Cruise's very own "Mission: Impossible III". Most recently, the pair also signed on the dotted line to script a sequel to this July's "The Amazing Spider-Man" for Sony.

To his credit, Sommers looked like a sound choice, paper. After all, by money-making standards, there was once every reason to believe after the windfalls of "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns" that he would become everything to which Michael Bay ascended. "Van Helsing" wasn't exactly a money pit, either: it did nearly double its budget, making $300 million on a $160-million price tag.

Sadly, it was also rightfully savaged by critics. It boasted CGI that looked amateurish even by 2004 standards. Jackman himself made a fine rough-and-tumble hero, but as he's often been, he found himself saddled with a script that was hackneyed and predictable where it wasn't riddled with holes. That being said, the right pieces are in play to take this concept of bringing together every possible classic Universal monster from the Wolfman to Frankenstein's monster, and make this the studio's "The Avengers" of horror nostalgia.

Jackman will probably never miss the role Cruise now takes up, though. He's now shooting the film adaptation of Broadway's legendary "Les Miserables" and later this year, will bolt for Japan to film "The Wolverine."