THE MUMMY
Love and Fear: The Original Monster Is Reborn
Frankenstein’s Monster. Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Wolf Man. The Invisible Man. The Mummy.
Those are but a few of the names of Universal Pictures’ iconic monsters from days past and present that conjure up unforgettably haunting cinematic images…ones that stay with us for a lifetime.
For almost a century, audiences have been drawn to the monster characters for many reasons. Not only do these super-humans straddle the fine line between life and death, there is such allure to the power of creatures who are capable of so much more than we dare imagine for ourselves. Truly, we empathize with their deep struggle between dark and light.
Curiously, our fascination with monsters has a fittingly cinematic beginning. Although explorers had excavated the majority of mummified Egyptian royalty by the time that British archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon unearthed a boy king called Tutankhamen in 1922, it was this discovery that coincided with an explosion of global entertainment. Initially, the subject matter riveted worldwide audiences in traveling museum shows throughout the decade. But none could imagine what would happen when, one year later, in 1923, the talking motion picture (“talkie”) was introduced and began shifting the silence in movie theaters across the world.
Nor, could audiences know the depth of cinematic terror to come until Boris Karloff, the man they had seen the year prior as Frankenstein’s Monster, emerge on the screen as the first theatrical Mummy, Imhotep, in Karl Freund’s 1932 masterpiece for Universal Studios. Screams of terror that could only be guessed at a decade earlier were now filling up theaters, heard both on screen and from the audience.
Tom Cruise headlines a spectacular, all-new cinematic version of the legend that has fascinated cultures all over the world since the dawn of civilization: The Mummy.
Thought safely entombed in a tomb deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient princess (Sofia Boutella of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond) whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.
From the sweeping sands of the Middle East through hidden labyrinths under modern-day London, The Mummy brings a surprising intensity and balance of wonder and thrills in an imaginative new take that ushers in a new world of gods and monsters.
Cruise is joined by a cast including Annabelle Wallis (upcoming King Arthur, television’s Peaky Blinders), Jake Johnson (Jurassic World), Courtney B. Vance (TV’s American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson), Marwan Kenzari (The Promise) and Oscar winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator).
The creative team on this action-adventure event is led by director/producer Alex Kurtzman and producer Chris Morgan, who have been instrumental in growing some of the most successful franchises of the past several years—with Kurtzman writing or producing entries in the Transformers, Star Trek and Mission: Impossible series, and Morgan being the narrative engineer of the Fast & Furious saga as it has experienced explosive growth from its third chapter on. Sean Daniel, who produced the most recent Mummy trilogy, and Sarah Bradshaw (Maleficent) produce alongside Kurtzman and Morgan.
