The Mummy (franchise)

The Mummy
250px Trilogy Box-set cover.
Directed by	Stephen Sommers The Mummy and The Mummy Returns Rob Cohen The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Produced by	Sean Daniel James Jacks
Screenplay by	Stephen Sommers Alfred Gough Miles Millar
Starring	List of The Mummy characters
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith Alan Silvestri Randy Edelman John Debney (additional music)
Edited by	Bob Ducsay Ray Bushey III Kelly Matsumoto Joel Negron
Production company	Universal Pictures Relativity Media Sommers Company Alphaville Films
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	1999-2008
Running time	366 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English Arabic Ancient Egyptian
Budget	$323 million
Box office	$1.415 billion

The Mummy is the title of several horror-adventure film series centered on an ancient Egyptian priest who is accidentally resurrected, bringing with him a powerful curse, and the ensuing efforts of heroic archaeologists to stop him. These three series of films accompany a spin-off film series, two comic book adaptations, three video games, an animated television series, and a roller coaster ride.

Universal Horror series (1932–1955)

The original series of films consisted of six installments in which starred iconic horror actors such as Boris Karloff (only in the original one, as Imhotep); Tom Tyler and Lon Chaney Jr. as Kharis; and lastly Eddie Parker, who played Klaris, a cousin of Kharis.

Year	Film	The Mummy actor
1932	The Mummy	Boris Karloff
1940	The Mummy's Hand	Tom Tyler
1942	The Mummy's Tomb	Lon Chaney Jr.
1944	The Mummy's Ghost	Lon Chaney Jr.
1944	The Mummy's Curse	Lon Chaney Jr.
1955	Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy	Eddie Parker

Hammer Horror series (1959–1971)

In 1959, the British Hammer Film Productions began its own The Mummy series of films. These include the following:

• The Mummy (1959). Set in 1895, the film stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as Kharis. The plot is based on Universal's own The Mummy's Hand and The Mummy's Tomb.
• The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964). Features Dickie Owen as the Mummy Ra-Antef.
• The Mummy's Shroud (1967). Features Eddie Powell as the Mummy Prem.
• Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971). Based on Bram Stoker's 1903 novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. Features Valerie Leon as the Mummy Queen Tera and her reincarnation Margaret Fuchs.

Stephen Sommers series (1999–2008)

Overview

Originally a proposed remake of The Mummy would have been directed by horror filmmaker/writer Clive Barker. Barker’s vision for the film was violent, with the story revolving around the head of a contemporary art museum who turns out to be a cultist trying to reanimate mummies. Barker's take was "dark, sexual and filled with mysticism", and that, "it would have been a great low-budget movie".

In 1999, Stephen Sommers wrote and directed a remake of The Mummy, loosely based on the original film of 1932. This film switches genres from the emphasis on horror to adventure, concentrating more on action sequences and effects, and a higher element of Egyptian lore. The film became a box office success spawning two sequels and a cancelled fourth film, a spin-off series, and an animated television series. The first two films received mixed reviews, while the third one received mostly negative reviews.

The three Sommers films

• The Mummy, 1999. It is the year 1920 and Richard “Rick” O'Connell, an American explorer, has discovered Hamunaptra, the city of the dead. Three years later, O'Connell returns to the site with a beautiful librarian, Evelyn 'Evie' Carnahan and her brother, Jonathan. When Evie accidentally revives the mummified corpse of an Egyptian priest, Imhotep, the pair must find a way to kill him before he rises back into power and destroys the world.
• The Mummy Returns, 2001. It is the year 1933 and Rick O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan are married with an 8 year-old son, Alex. When Alex triggers a curse and Imhotep is resurrected, Rick and Evie must once again try to save the world and defeat the mummy.
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, 2008. Set in 1946, the film continues the adventures of Rick O'Connell, his wife Evie, and his son Alex against a different mummy, the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li) of China.

Cancelled fourth film

After Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was released, actress Maria Bello stated that another Mummy film will "absolutely" be made, and that she had already signed on. Actor Luke Ford was signed on for three films as well.

The Scorpion King spin-off series (2002–2015)

This spin-off series follows the adventures of Mathayus, who would later be known as the Scorpion King and, eventually, become a foe in The Mummy Returns. The films are as follows:

• The Scorpion King, a 2002 film.
• The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, a 2008 prequel (direct-to-video) film.
• The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption, a 2012 sequel (direct-to-video) film.
• The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power, a 2015 sequel (direct-to-video) film.

Reboot and shared universe

On April 4, 2012, Universal Studios announced that they are developing a reboot of the series, with Jon Spaihts to write the film and Sean Daniel who produced the three films, will be returning as producer. On May 1, 2012, Universal signed on with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman a two-year deal to produce the Mummy reboot through their K/O Paper Products banner. On September 24, 2012, it was announced that Universal has set Len Wiseman to direct the film. In December 2012, it was being said that The Mummy reboot will be different from the classic trilogy, it'll be a completely new take on the mythology, and it will be set in present day. On February 14, 2013, Universal set The Hunger Games' writer Billy Ray to write a competitive draft for the Mummy reboot against Spaihts written script. On July 31, 2013, director Wiseman has left the film project due of schedule conflicts. On September 13, 2013, news reported that Mama's director Andrés Muschietti is in talks to direct the film. In October 2013, Orci has spoken to IGN, hinted that both The Mummy and Van Helsing reboots will have a shared universe. On November 27, 2013, Universal has set the film for an April 22, 2016 release. On May 6, 2014, director Muschetti left the film due to creative differences, which Spaihts wrote the latest draft of the script, which reimagined The Mummy in modern day with new characters not seen in previous iterations and a protagonist imbued with a human personality. On July 16, 2014, Universal announced that they had tapped Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan to develop all classic movie monsters which include Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Mummy. The first film they will develop together will be The Mummy, for which they had begun the meetings. So on July 30, Kurtzman was set to direct the film. Next day, the film's release date was pushed back to March 27, 2017, when Universal announced the April 22 for its new film The Huntsman. The film's plot is set in Iraq and follows a Navy SEAL and his team that battle Mummies led by Ashurbanipal. On October 14, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Kurtzman and Spaihts has two scripts with a male and a female mummy villain. On November 24, 2015, Variety reports that Tom Cruise is in talks to star in the film. Variety also reports that Cruise isn’t expected to produce, but he will play a major part in development. On December 8, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Sofia Boutella is in talks for the female Mummy role in the reboot.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of The Mummy characters

Character	Films			Animated series
	The Mummy (1999)	The Mummy Returns (2001)	The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)	The Mummy: The Animated Series (2001–2003)
Richard “Rick” O'Connell	Brendan Fraser			John Schneider
Evelyn Carnahan-O'Connell / Princess Nefertiri	Rachel Weisz		Maria Bello	Grey DeLisle
Alexander Rupert O'Connell		Freddie Boath	Luke Ford	Chris Marquette
Jonathan Carnahan	John Hannah			Tom Kenny
Imhotep	Arnold Vosloo			Jim Cummings
Ardeth Bay	Oded Fehr			Nicholas Guest
Meela Nais / Anck-su-namun	Patricia Velásquez			Lenore Zann
Pharaoh Seti I	Aharon Ipale
Beni Gabor	Kevin J. O'Connor
Dr. Allen Chamberlain	Jonathan Hyde
Dr. Terrance Bay	Erick Avari
Isaac Henderson	Stephen Dunham
David Daniels	Corey Johnson
Bernard Burns	Tuc Watkins
Warden Gad Hassan	Omid Djalili
Captain Winston Havlock	Bernard Fox
Baltus Hafez		Alun Armstrong
The Scorpion King		The Rock
Lock-Nah		Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Izzy Buttons		Shaun Parkes
Red Willits		Bruce Byron
Jacques Clemons		Joe Dixon
Jacob Spivey		Tom Fisher
Emperor Qin Shi Huang			Jet Li
General Yang			Anthony Wang
Lin			Isabella Leong
Mad Dog Maguire			Liam Cunningham
Professor Roger Wilson			David Calder
General Ming Guo			Russell Wong
Zi-Yuan			Michelle Yeoh

Crew

Year	Film	Director	Producer	Writer	Composer	Editor	Cinematographer
1999	The Mummy	Stephen Sommers	Sean Daniel James Jacks	screenplay: Stephen Sommers story: Stephen Sommers Lloyd Fonvielle & Kevin Jarre	Jerry Goldsmith	Bob Ducsay	Adrian Biddle
2001	The Mummy Returns			Stephen Sommers	Alan Silvestri	Bob Ducsay Kelly Matsumoto
2008	The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor	Rob Cohen	Sean Daniel James Jacks Bob Ducsay Stephen Sommers	Alfred Gough & Miles Millar	Randy Edelman	Joel Negron Kelly Matsumoto	Simon Duggan

Derivative works

The entrance to Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Two video game adaptations of The Mummy (1999) were developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Konami in 2000: an action-adventure game for the PlayStation and PC as well as a Game Boy Color puzzle game. Dreamcast version was announced but later cancelled in the late 2000. The Mummy Returns released in late 2001 for the PlayStation 2 and developed by Blitz Games, the Game Boy Color version was developed by GameBrains, both versions were published by Universal Interactive. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was released in 2008, developed by Eurocom for the PlayStation 2 and the Wii, the Nintendo DS released was developed by A2M, all versions were published by Sierra Entertainment. In March 2012, a massive multiplayer online game known as The Mummy Online was released.

In May 2001, Chaos! Comics released the first of a three issue series inspired by the film, titled 'The Mummy Valley of the Gods'. The plot was supposed to take place between the first film and The Mummy Returns. Rick and Evelyn are on their honeymoon in Egypt and end up embarking on yet another adventure where they must unravel the mysteries of the Orb of Destiny and discover the location of the Valley of the Gods hidden beneath the sands. However, the second and third issues were never published. This was most likely due to Chaos later filing bankruptcy in 2002 and selling the rights to all their titles at that time. Years later in 2008, another Mummy comic series was released by IDW Publishing, spanning four issues. This series was titled 'The Mummy: the Rise and Fall of Xango's Ax'. Unlike the preceding comic series, all of the planned issues were published.

From 2001 until 2003, The Mummy: The Animated Series was made by Universal Animation Studios. It was based on the Stephen Sommers series of films and was set between 1934 and 1935. The series was later renamed The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai.

The film also inspired a roller coaster ride named Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride in Universal Studios Theme Parks, Florida. Similar rides can also be found in Hollywood and Singapore.