Russell Crowe could be moving into the monster movie business alongside Tom Cruise.

The Oscar winner is reportedly discussing playing Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in The Mummy – a reboot that could lead to a spin-off movie centring on the famous tormented doctor who turns into a murdering madman.

It is part of Universal Pictures' ambitious plan to build a universe of monsters in the way that Marvel Entertainment and DC Comics are doing with superheroes.

While details are sketchy, the new Mummy is reportedly set in the modern day with Cruise playing a former special services soldier who stumbles on an ancient tomb.

In a break from cinematic history, the Mummy is a female character this time around, played Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service), with Annabelle Wallis (Peaky Blinders, Grimsby) as a scientist.

The movie is being directed by Alex Kurtzman, who is better known as a writer-producer whose credits include two Transformer movies, two Star Trek movies and such TV series as Alias, Hawaii Five-0 and Limitless.

It is shooting in Britain and opens in June next year.

According to Variety, insiders say Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one of a number of classic horror movie characters who will make cameos in The Mummy as a means of launching spin-off franchises.

The long history of Mummy movies includes a Boris Karloff version in 1932, three movies starring Lon Chaney Jr in the 1940s, a 1959 movie starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and a trilogy starring Brendan Fraser from 1999 to 2008.

Following on from 2014's Dracula Untold, Universal's new monster universe is set to include Johnny Depp in a remake of The Invisible Man.

The studio is reportedly also developing remakes of Frankenstein, Dracula, Van Helsing, The Bride of Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Wolf Man.

The Nice Guys, an action comedy that stars Crowe opposite Ryan Gosling, premieres at the Cannes Film Festival before opening in Australia on May 26.