The Mummy (2017 film)

The Mummy is a 2017 American action adventure film co-produced and directed by Alex Kurtzman from a screenplay written by David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, and Dylan Kussman based on a story by Kurtzman, Jon Spaihts, and Jenny Lumet. A reboot of the Mummy franchise, it stars Tom Cruise as U.S. Army Sergeant Nick Morton, a soldier of fortune who accidentally unearths the ancient tomb of entrapped Egyptian princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella). Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, and Russell Crowe also star.

The Mummy premiered at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia on May 22, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 9, 2017. It received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $410 million worldwide, losing $60–95 million due to high production and marketing costs. Intended to kick-start the Dark Universe, a shared universe based on the classic Universal Monsters film series, the film's poor box office performance led to the cancellation of the shared universe.

Plot

In ancient Egypt, Princess Ahmanet is in line to rule over the pharaoh's kingdom, until the pharaoh sires a son. Knowing that her place to rule has been taken, she makes a deal with the deity Set and is given demonic powers through a ceremonial dagger. She murders her family and attempts to set the deity free, but is caught and mummified alive by Egyptian priests for her crimes. Her sarcophagus is then entombed in a region far away so she can never escape.

In present-day London, construction workers discover the tomb of a crusader knight who was buried with an Egyptian ruby, and Dr. Henry Jekyll takes over the operation. In Iraq, former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Nick Morton and Corporal Chris Vail discover the tomb of Princess Ahmanet, unknowingly bringing Ahmanet back to life. The soldiers and British archaeologist, Jenny Halsey, fly Ahmanet's sarcophagus to Britain.

During the flight, Chris is possessed by Ahmanet through a spider bite, and he attacks the others, only to be killed by Nick. A large flock of crows attacks the plane and is sucked into the engines. The plane crashes, killing the crew except for Jenny, who escapes with a parachute Nick gives her.

Nick returns to life in a morgue. Chris's ghost appears and tells him he has been cursed by Ahmanet, who seeks to use him as a vessel for Set. Ahmanet's mummy escapes from the sarcophagus and begins feeding on people to regenerate her body, turning them into zombies. She recovers the Dagger of Set and attempts to stab Nick before realizing that the ruby is not attached to it. She and her army chase after Nick and Jenny until soldiers appear and subdue her.

Dr. Jekyll explains that Jenny is an agent of Prodigium, a secret society dedicated to hunting supernatural threats. Nick and Jenny discover that Jekyll intends to allow Set to possess Nick's body completely, believing that this will render Set vulnerable. Jekyll transforms into Eddie Hyde. Nick stops him with a serum that Jekyll invented for this purpose, allowing Nick and Jenny to escape. Ahmanet finds them, regains the dagger, summons many crusader zombies, and creates a large sandstorm in London. The crusader zombies kill the Prodigium soldiers and scientists and Ahmanet recovers the ruby, combining it with the dagger in order to free Set.

Guided by Chris's ghost, Nick and Jenny flee into the London Underground, where Ahmanet's zombies attack them. Ahmanet captures Jenny and snaps her neck. When Nick is brought to Ahmanet, he sees Jenny's body, and the zombies turn to dust. Nick is injured when he tries to attack Ahmanet and lets her embrace him as a ruse to steal the dagger and shatter the ruby. He strikes the pommel of the dagger against the floor, cracking the ruby, but Ahmanet reminds him that the dagger could grant him the power to reverse death. Instead of destroying the gem, he stabs himself, and his body is possessed by Set. Set goes to Ahmanet as he begins to take over, but Nick looks at Jenny's dead body and remembers both her and Jekyll's words. Nick regains control and uses Set's powers to extract Ahmanet's life force, killing her, and also resurrects Jenny. Struggling against Set and knowing that Prodigium is coming for him, Nick says goodbye to Jenny and vanishes.

As Ahmanet is sealed back in her sarcophagus, Jenny and Jekyll wonder whether Nick, now fused with Set, will use his powers for good. Nick returns to the desert and resurrects Chris. The two go on an adventure, hoping to find a cure to remove the curse.

Cast

• Tom Cruise as Nick Morton, a U.S. Army sergeant
• Annabelle Wallis as Jennifer "Jenny" Halsey, a British archaeologist
• Sofia Boutella as Ahmanet, the title character. She is loosely based on Imhotep from the original Mummy films, as well as the ancient Egyptian goddess Amunet
• Jake Johnson as Chris Vail, Nick's friend and closest ally
• Courtney B. Vance as Colonel Greenway, Nick and Chris's superior officer
• Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll / Edward "Eddie" Hyde
• Marwan Kenzari as Malik, Jekyll's chief of security and a member of Prodigium
• Javier Botet as Set, the ancient Egyptian god of death

Production

Development

The Mummy 4 and reboot attempts

Ahead of the summer release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Maria Bello was hopeful that a fourth entry in the series would be made. Series newcomer Luke Ford was signed on for three films. The film, entitled The Mummy: Rise of the Aztecs, was to be set in South America and would have seen Antonio Banderas portray the villain. Rob Cohen was interested in directing a future installment while Brendan Fraser and John Hannah were supposedly on board. Plans for the fourth film came to halt in April 2012 when Universal Pictures opted to reboot the series.

Jon Spaihts, known for his work on the Alien prequel Prometheus, was writing the film, while Sean Daniel would act as producer. Spaihts hoped to take the franchise back to its horror roots and "simultaneously open it up to an epic scale we haven't seen before". Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci became involved with the project shortly thereafter; signing a two-year deal with the studio to produce The Mummy as well as a "reimagining" of Van Helsing. Len Wiseman was selected to direct the film in September 2012 due to his work on Underworld. Wiseman aimed for a contemporary setting and to make something "entirely different" than the Fraser-led films, while Kurtzman indicated that while The Mummy would still fall into the "four-quadrant audience zone", the film would have a darker tone. The works of Michael Crichton were also cited as an influence on the reboot. Universal anticipated a 2014 release. The studio was keen on having production underway in 2013. State of Play screenwriter Billy Ray was contracted to pen a competing draft as a contingency plan should Spaihts' draft fail to satisfy. Universal also prepared to combine the "best of" both scripts if neither were up to par. Wiseman would fall off the project in July 2013 in order to focus on Sleepy Hollow. Despite the setback, the project was still a high priority for Universal and was still moving "full-speed ahead".

The studio quickly began searching for a replacement the following month, with Andy Muschietti emerging as the front-runner in September. Spaihts remained attached while an April 2016 release date was slotted in November. Spaihts would later be joined by Kurtzman and Orci for subsequent drafts. Muschietti's involvement would not last much longer however, with the Mama filmmaker exiting the project in May 2014. Muschietti intended to follow the previously established darker tone, but a newer family friendly action adventure-approach was favored by the producers, leading to his departure.

Kurtzman and Dark Universe

In April 2014, Orci would depart from his producing duties in order to focus on directing the third Star Trek film, while Kurtzman would continue developing The Mummy. Universal then paired Kurtzman with Chris Morgan, credited for "rebooting" the Fast & Furious franchise, to oversee a new shared universe featuring the Universal Monsters. Days later, Kurtzman was in final talks to helm the film. A new release date of June 24, 2016, was given at month's end. Jenny Lumet of Rachel Getting Married was brought in for further rewrites. Lumet chose to turn the titular character from a man to a woman without notifying the studio beforehand. The writer strove to humanize the antagonist and not have them be "evil for the sake of evil" or "not pining away for some lost love". Another delay resulted in the film being pushed to March 24, 2017.