As one of the most beloved and wholesome figures in Hollywood, Brendan Fraser isn’t going to come right out and trash somebody else’s movie, even if it’s a disastrous attempt at rebooting the actor’s most beloved effort. Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy is adored by an entire generation of film fans, whereas Tom Cruise’s version is hated by its own director.
The Dark Universe as a whole ranks as arguably the worst attempt at launching a shared cinematic universe we’ve ever seen, and while Cruise’s proposed franchise-started did earn over $400 million at the box office, it was absolutely torn apart by critics and completely dismantled by audiences.
To be fair, Fraser’s three-film stint as Rick O’Connell wasn’t comprised of a trio of back-to-back classics, but the first installment is one of the most enduring popular blockbusters of the last quarter of a century, and the mere mention of it will bring on a severe case of misty-eyed nostalgia. In an interview with Variety, the leading man explained how that’s where he thinks Cruise went wrong.
“It is hard to make that movie. The ingredient that we had going for our Mummy, which I didn’t see in the new one, was fun. That was what was lacking in that incarnation. It was too much of a straight-ahead horror movie. The Mummy should be a thrill ride, but not terrifying and scary.”
Now that the comeback is in full swing, and he’s even the front-runner to win Best Actor at next year’s Academy Awards, could Fraser be tempted to return for a fourth entry in his own series? Well, he admitted that he “doesn’t know how it’ll work”, but he’d be open to it if the idea was strong enough. Universal; let’s start inviting those pitches.
