The Mummy (1999 film)

The Mummy is a 1999 American action-adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. It is a remake of the 1932 film of the same name and part of the larger Universal Monsters franchise. The film follows adventurer and treasure hunter Rick O'Connell as he travels to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, with librarian Evelyn Carnahan and her older brother Jonathan, where they accidentally awaken Imhotep, a cursed high priest with supernatural powers.

Development took years, with multiple screenplays and directors attached. In 1997, Sommers successfully pitched his version of a more adventurous and romantic take on the source material. Filming took place in Morocco and the United Kingdom; the crew endured dehydration, sandstorms, and snakes shooting on location in the Sahara Desert. Industrial Light & Magic provided many of the visual effects, blending live-action footage and computer-generated imagery to create the titular monster. Jerry Goldsmith composed the orchestral score.

The Mummy was theatrically released on May 7, 1999 by Universal Pictures. The film received mixed critical reviews and positive audience reaction and grossed $418.1 million worldwide against a production budget of $80 million, becoming the sixth-highest grossing film of 1999. The film started a new franchise, with two direct sequels, The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), and various spinoffs such as an animated series and the prequel The Scorpion King (2002), which led to sequels of its own. In 2017, an attempt was made to start another Universal Monsters franchise with The Mummy starring Tom Cruise.