AlthoughThe Mummyfranchise has been dormant for some time now, director Lee Cronin’s reboot of the series sounds like just what we need after 2017’s disappointing Tom Cruise vehicle.2017’sThe Mummywas a confusing, tonally incoherent blockbuster that attempted to mash together star Tom Cruise’s trademark stunt-heavy action adventure, dark horror, and weirdly goofy comedic relief. WhereBrendan Fraser’sThe Mummymovieseffortlessly juggled these elements, 2017’s reboot ofThe Mummyfranchise was a shambling, lumbering mess not unlike the title monster.
Famously, 2017’sThe Mummykilled Universal’s proposed “Dark Universe” before it could begin in earnest. This series of horror movies was set to be a big-budget re-imagining of the classic Universal movie monsters, a series of action horror blockbusters that would do for Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Mummy what Marvel had done for Black Widow, Iron Man, and Thor. 2020’sThe Invisible Manrevived interest in the Dark Universe with its more modest, far more horror-centric story, but2025’s flawedWolf Manprovedthat the Dark Universe still has not won over critics.
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Fortunately, it sounds likeThe Mummyfranchise is in the right hands, whatever about the rest of the monsters occupying Universal’s vault.The Hollywood Reporterrevealed in December 2024 thatEvil Dead Risedirector Lee Cronin is rebooting the series, promising a radical new vision for the series that differs from both the 2017 action-horror hybrid and the earlier, campierThe Mummymovies released between 1999 and 2008. As much as viewers may want to someday see Rachel Weisz andBrendan Fraser return inThe Mummy 4, Cronin’s plan sounds even more exciting.
As 2017’sThe Mummywas rated PG-13 and mostly focused on action, it was devoid of substantial scares and intense horror.
In late 2024, Cronin promisedThe Hollywood Reporter“I’m digging deep into the earth to raise something very ancient and very frightening,” saying that hisThe Mummymovie would be “Unlike any Mummy movie you ever laid eyeballs on before.” This is a bold claim, but it is also a surprisingly plausible one. As 2017’sThe Mummywas rated PG-13 and mostly focused on action, it was devoid of substantial scares and intense horror. Similarly, although there are plenty of gross moments and memorable villains in Fraser’s earlierThe Mummymovies, they are rarely genuinely scary.
Cronin’s horror-forward take onThe Mummycould be the first truly terrifying screen incarnation of the iconic characterafter both 2017’s reboot and the earlier trilogy took different approaches to the iconic villain. Forall ofWolf Man’s flaws, the 2025 movie followed in the footsteps ofThe Invisible Manby updating a classic horror movie into a more modern, relatable story. Cronin’sEvil Dead Risedid the same for theEvil Deadfranchise, taking it out of the woods and locating its horrors in a busy apartment complex.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy Movie Sounds Exactly Like We Need After The 2017 Version
The smartest change Cronin made to theEvil Deadfranchise blueprint was setting the reboot’s story of gory demonic possession not among a group of college students, but among a small family. This made the action far more emotionally intense, as every death carried more weight and every possession was more poignant, as well as scarier.Evil Dead Rise’s Deaditeswere scarier than ever because they preyed on a family rather than interchangeable collegiate victims, and Cronin’sThe Mummyreboot seems set to repeat this clever approach.
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The Mummy has become one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time for a good reason, with plenty of great flicks using the Egyptian legend.
Irish actor Jack Reynor will star in Cronin’s take onThe Mummy, which is set to begin shooting in Ireland soon. According toThe Hollywood Reporter, Reynor’s character will be a “Husband and father who runs afoul of supernaturally sinister forces.” This synopsis alone proves that Cronin’s movie is making one ingenious change that was overdue for the franchise. Cruise’s protagonist fromThe Mummy’s 2017 reboot is an Army Sergeant, while Fraser’sThe Mummyantihero is a combat veteran and treasure hunter. Reynor’s lead character, in contrast, is primarily defined as a family man.
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Already, Cronin’s movie has inherently higher stakes than Cruise’s reboot. No one really believed that action-horror was going to kill off its biggest A-list star, which sapped the story of any stakes. In contrast, althoughReynor’s performance inMidsommaris underrated and the star has proven himself in numerous roles over the years, his comparatively low profile works in Cronin’s favor.
Unlike Tom Cruise’s earlier reboot, this take onThe Mummycan truly scare viewers.
Cronin’sThe Mummymay well kill off its hero, or his family, and in doing so the reboot could become the first truly pitiless, genuinely dark installment in the series. Both the knockabout fun of the Fraser trilogy and the incoherent noise of Cruise’s misfire are devoid of any real threat, whereas Cronin’sEvil Dead Riseis a legitimately dark, nasty, and unpredictable bit of horror film making. As such, unlike Tom Cruise’s earlier reboot, this take onThe Mummycan truly scare viewers.
