My thoughts on why 'the Mummy' failed to launch Dark Universe

[Teelie]

I haven't watched it yet but I want to soon. The mummy being female has zero to do with it and if anything probably increased interest (Sofia Botella would hardly be a deterrent).

The reasons it flopped are already said. It tried too hard to do too many things and apparently failed at them all.

 

[TheVileOne]

We can't ignore that the movie basically made Tom Cruise the true Mummy character of the title. That's really what everyone was going for.

 

[Octoberist]

The movie never looked good. It's not because of Sofia or just the idea of a female
mummy.

The moment Cruise's scream became a meme, it was a red flag that this will be a failure.

 

[Octoberist]

If anything, Tom Cruise is the reason it flopped. Both in the sense that Tom Cruise draws eye-rolls, and in the sense that it became a movie about Tom Cruise, rather than a movie about *the monster that is in the title*. If they wanted Hero Mummy, then they should have made the Hero Mummy be, well, the Mummy. The monster who the movie was about. Not the nearest white male "hero" who randomly gets mummy powers.

Cruise is only a draw when he's in a Mission Impossible film. Otherwise....he's unrelatable. At least post-2008 Cruise is. That's why his Ethan Hunt works - he's just a superhuman ragdoll.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

Let me elaborate further...........I am not saying the only reason it failed was because the Mummy was female. Im saying it didnt help IMO. Going in to seeing the Mummy, you want to see a classic monster and have that horror element to it. Her being so sexualized didnt help pull off this ferocious adversary the Mummy should have been portrayed as.

 

[Octoberist]

I honestly don't think it played a role at all, especially when most of the trailers just had Cruise and the Mummy was mostly a CG force of nature. Heck, Jake Johnson was barely featured in any of the ads, and that's a shame (I like him).

So here's my take: their ad campaign wasn't great, and Cruise continues not to be a draw unless he's in a Mission Impossible film. And since people are nolstagic for the 90's, people are on the fence of another remake/reboot when they're fans of the Brenden Frasier/Stephen Sommers films.

I think it's the fact that the movie didn't look good from the get-go, and even the public saw that.

 

[Mysteryman]

I honestly don't think it played a role at all, especially when most of the trailers just had Cruise and the Mummy was mostly a CG force of nature. Heck, Jake Johnson was barely featured in any of the ads, and that's a shame (I like him).

So here's my take: their ad campaign wasn't great, and Cruise continues not to be a draw unless he's in a Mission Impossible film. And since people are nolstagic for the 90's, people are on the fence of another remake/reboot when they're fans of the Brenden Frasier/Stephen Sommers films.

I think it's the fact that the movie didn't look good from the get-go, and even the public saw that.

The last Brendan Fraser Mummy film was the worst film in the series in a creative sense and the least financially successful film in the franchise.

 

[chamber-music]

The whole Jake Johnson role reminded me of the dead buddy in An American Werewolf In London.

A female Mummy wasn't the problem. The Mummy reboot was just generic and middle of the road Hollywood blockbuster fodder. Audiences are becoming less tolerant of these kind of lazy films.

The Brendan Fraser films got progressively worst with each sequel. Rachel Weisez bailed on the franchise. Generic Hollywood bland dude that no one had ever heard of was cast as adult Alex. Brendan Fraser's leading man looks went away and he is doing tv work now mostly.

It's Charles Dance's performance for me that 'makes it'. He doesn't just eat the scenery he chews it, gobbles it and demonstrates why he's so good.

Charles Dance best scene chewing was in Last Action Hero.

 

[Schlosser85]

Wtf?! I don't even remember him being in the movie?!

He's the old vampire.

 

[guitarsingerguy]

He's the old vampire.

Oh!!!! That's right!!! Yeah, maybe I'll give it another go tonight after The Vietnam War on LPB.

 

[DACrowe]

I think based on how the Dark Universe premiered here, there is a chance they hit the panic button already.
I hate to say this, and i don't mean to offend anyone, especially the female fans out there but...I think having the Mummy as a woman kind of hurt its chances for success.
Im not saying a female lead cant reap in the big bucks , because we saw what WW can do, but I think as an evil monster it kind of detracted from the lore of the mummy.
Having a mummy who is attractive and not gruesome is a weird idea to start off with.

Mummy sorceresses were wildly popular in Victorian literature of the 19th century, including in the stories that influenced the original 1932 Boris Karloff movie so...

Nope. Saying it shouldn't have been a woman is ridiculous, as the most successful horror movie of all time starred a little girl terrifying millions of Americans.

A more likely reason is that it was a soulless blockbuster developed by a studio with the intent of selling new movies down the line and nothing else. There was nothing there, there. It was just an empty piece of junk.

 

[Matt Mortem]

The script was the problem with that movie. The overwhelming majority of the dialogue was the characters spitting out the same exposition over and over. Even scenes like Cruise and Johnson on the roof in the beginning when they're being shot at the dialogue is nothing. They say nothing. It means nothing. The writer had no idea what he wanted to do, didn't want to bother enough to try and ultimately it made for a bad film. All of the elements in the movie could have worked with a good script and a competent director. The Mummy had neither.

That said I'm still rooting for the Dark Universe. Bill Condon is a genius choice for Bride of Frankenstein and I think Universal will course correct.

 

[guitarsingerguy]

The script was the problem with that movie. The overwhelming majority of the dialogue was the characters spitting out the same exposition over and over. Even scenes like Cruise and Johnson on the roof in the beginning when they're being shot at the dialogue is nothing. They say nothing. It means nothing. The writer had no idea what he wanted to do, didn't want to bother enough to try and ultimately it made for a bad film. All of the elements in the movie could have worked with a good script and a competent director. The Mummy had neither.

That said I'm still rooting for the Dark Universe. Bill Condon is a genius choice for Bride of Frankenstein and I think Universal will course correct.

Of course he had no idea what he wanted to do. The poor writer was tasked with starting this ******** universe as opposed to being tasked with making a good film to get it started on. I really do believe they told him to put just as much emphasis on that as everything else, so he had the cards stacked against him before he even got started.

 

[Matt Mortem]

The big thing missing from all the potential shared universes is someone like Feige. The MCU works because Feige makes them work. That's why all the others struggle. There's no unifying voice forcing the proverbial trains to run on time.

 

[MbJ]

This just reminds me of how for years people were saying the problem with Catwoman and Elektra was that people don't want female comic book movies and not, ya know, the fact that those movies were just really terrible.

 

[Galactus123]

I kind of agree. Yeah it shouldn't be like that but that might have been one factor. But it wasn't because she is a woman. People just would have been more interested if the mummy would be more like the classic ones. Like what people think about when talking about The Mummy.

 

[Matt Mortem]

I kind of agree. Yeah it shouldn't be like that but that might have been one factor. But it wasn't because she is a woman. People just would have been more interested if the mummy would be more like the classic ones. Like what people think about when talking about The Mummy.

Spoiler

That classic Mummy though is never seen in action in the original. The most Karloff does in that makeup is we see his eyes open. After that he's just wrinkly Karloff as Ardeth Bay.

Arnold Vosloo's Mummy didn't look like that and it was fine. What hurt this movie wasn't the Mummy's gender or design. It was the script.

 

[Galactus123]

That classic Mummy though is never seen in action in the original. The most Karloff does in that makeup is we see his eyes open. After that he's just wrinkly Karloff as Ardeth Bay.

Arnold Vosloo's Mummy didn't look like that and it was fine. What hurt this movie wasn't the Mummy's gender or design. It was the script.

I know. I just meant that people would liked the mummy to look like how they imagine them to look.

 

[MbJ]

As someone else just said, the Arnold Vosloo Mummy didn't look like that and people did just fine. In fact, I daresay most of the audience thinks of those movies when they hear the name.

 

[Matt Mortem]

The design of the Mummy had nothing to do with it's failures. End of story. You guys say "it's not because it's a woman. It's because of the design." ********. Boutella's Mummy goes from rotten corpse covered in bandages to pale white bandaged living Mummy. The only wild left turn they take in design is gender. Say what you mean.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

The design of the Mummy had nothing to do with it's failures. End of story. You guys say "it's not because it's a woman. It's because of the design." ********. Boutella's Mummy goes from rotten corpse covered in bandages to pale white bandaged living Mummy. The only wild left turn they take in design is gender. Say what you mean.

So you can honestly say that this look

Would not at all help sell the gruesome monster aspect of the Mummy and perhaps get more people interested? Instead, those who disagree think this is a look that should frighten you?

 

[Mandon Knight]

So you can honestly say that this look

Would not at all help sell the gruesome monster aspect of the Mummy and perhaps get more people interested? Instead, those who disagree think this is a look that should frighten you?

..and therein lies the problem, studio's believe something being 'sexy'-ied up is more important than offering proper scares with keeping traditional aspects of a story.

 

[Matt Mortem]

So you can honestly say that this look

Which Mummy movie is that from? Doesn't look like Karloff. Doesn't look like Vosloo. Boutella has moments in the film where she's a rotted, animated corpse. Then, just like the beloved Brenda Fraser film, she sucks the life out of others and regenerates. If anything she retains more monstrous aspects than Vosloo did in his film.

The issue with the movie was not her design. Say what you mean.

 

[Matt Mortem]

..and therein lies the problem, studio's believe something being 'sexy'-ied up is more important than offering proper scares with keeping traditional aspects of a story.

I agree. Can't have The Mummy showing a bunch of skin. It's sexist pandering.

Spoiler

 

[Peyton Westlake]

..and therein lies the problem, studio's believe something being 'sexy'-ied up is more important than offering proper scares with keeping traditional aspects of a story.

Yes, exactly my point, some group of empty suits saying "we need a strong female character, lets film a sexy Mummy!" is not what they needed IMO. They could have made her female, still not my point, just make her a female with the scary look to her like I pointed out. Again, Im not saying this is the ONLY reason why it failed, but I think it didnt help.