The Mummy (2017) Instant

Starring Tom Cruise as Nick Morton, a military scout-turned-relic-thief, the film immediately feels less like a gothic horror and more like a high-octane spin-off. While Cruise’s physical commitment is undeniable—most notably in the spectacular zero-gravity plane crash sequence filmed in an actual vomit comet—his persona often clashes with the supernatural dread the genre requires. Unlike Brendan Fraser’s charmingly out-of-his-depth Rick O'Connell from the 1999 version, Cruise’s Morton feels like a man who can punch his way out of a curse, which inadvertently lowers the stakes. Ahmanet: A Modern Antagonist

Critics and audiences were lukewarm, and while the film performed decently internationally, its domestic struggle led Universal to scrap the "Dark Universe" plan. The irony is that the failure of The Mummy (2017) led to a much more successful strategy: the standalone, director-driven approach seen in 2020’s The Invisible Man . The Mummy (2017)

The biggest hurdle the film faced was the weight of its own future. Large portions of the runtime are dedicated to Dr. Henry Jekyll (played by Russell Crowe) and his secret organization, , which tracks monsters globally. While Crowe is clearly having fun, these sequences often feel like "commercials" for sequels that would never happen. By focusing so heavily on setting up a crossover with the Invisible Man, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman, the film failed to establish a compelling reason to care about the current story. Legacy and Aftermath Starring Tom Cruise as Nick Morton, a military