The Mummy (franchise)

The Mummy
Directed by	Stephen Sommers The Mummy and The Mummy Returns Rob Cohen The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Screenplay by	Stephen Sommers Alfred Gough Miles Millar
Produced by	Sean Daniel James Jacks
Starring	List of characters in The Mummy series
Edited by	Bob Ducsay Ray Bushey III Kelly Matsumoto Joel Negron
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith Alan Silvestri Randy Edelman John Debney (additional music)
Production companies	Universal Pictures Relativity Media Sommers Company Alphaville Films
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	1999-2008
Running time	366 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English Arabic Ancient Egyptian
Budget	$323 million
Box office	$1,415,408,499

The Mummy refers to any one of four franchises of horror-adventure films about an ancient Egyptian priest accidentally resurrected, who brings with him a powerful curse, and the efforts of heroic archaeologists to stop him.

Universal Horror franchise

The original series of six installments, starring iconic horror actors Boris Karloff in the original only as Imhotep with Lon Chaney Jr. and Tom Tyler as Kharis and lastly Eddie Parker who played Klaris, a cousin of Kharis.

Film	Year	The Mummy
The Mummy	1932	Boris Karloff
The Mummy's Hand	1940	Tom Tyler
The Mummy's Tomb	1942	Lon Chaney, Jr.
The Mummy's Ghost	1944	Lon Chaney, Jr.
The Mummy's Curse	1944	Lon Chaney, Jr.
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy	1955	Eddie Parker

Hammer Horror franchise

In 1959 the British Hammer Film Productions began its own Mummy series.

• The Mummy, 1959. Set in 1895, the film stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as Kharis. The plot is based on Universal's The Mummy's Hand and The Mummy's Tomb.
• The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, 1964. Features Dickie Owen as the Mummy Ra-Antef.
• The Mummy's Shroud, 1966. Features Eddie Powell as the Mummy Prem.
• Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, 1971. Based on Bram Stoker's 1903 novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. Features Valerie Leon as the Mummy Queen Tera and her reincarnation Margaret Fuchs.

Stephen Sommers franchise

Originally a proposed remake of The Mummy would have been directed by horror filmmaker/writer Clive Barker. Barker’s vision for the film was violent, with the story revolving around the head of a contemporary art museum who turns out to be a cultist trying to reanimate mummies. Barker's take was "dark, sexual and filled with mysticism", and that, "it would have been a great low-budget movie".

In 1999, Stephen Sommers wrote and directed a remake of The Mummy, loosely based on the original film of 1932. This film switches genres from the emphasis on horror to adventure, concentrating more on action sequences and effects, and a higher element of Egyptian lore. The film became a box office success spawning two sequels and a canceled fourth film, a spin-off series, and an animated television series. The first two films received mixed reviews, while third film received mostly negative reviews.

• The Mummy, 1999. It is the year 1923 and Richard “Rick” O'Connell, an American explorer, has discovered Hamunaptra, the city of the dead. Three years later, O'Connell returns to the site with a beautiful librarian, Evelyn 'Evie' Carnahan and her brother, Jonathan. When Evie accidentally revives the mummified corpse of an Egyptian priest, Imhotep, the pair must find a way to kill him before he rises back into power and destroys the world.
• The Mummy Returns, 2001. It is the year 1933 and Rick O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan are married with an 8 year-old son, Alex. When Alex triggers a curse and Imhotep is resurrected, Rick and Evie must once again try to save the world and defeat the mummy.
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, 2008. Set in 1946, the movie continues the adventures of Rick O'Connell, his wife Evie, and his son Alex against a different mummy, the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li) of China.

The Scorpion King spin-off franchise

These follow the adventures of Mathayus who would become the Scorpion King and foe in the Mummy Returns.

• The Scorpion King, a 2002 film.
• The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, a 2008 Prequel film
• The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption, a 2012 Sequel film

Cancellation of fourth film and plans for a reboot

After Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was released, actress Maria Bello stated that another Mummy film will "absolutely" be made, and that she had already signed on. Actor Luke Ford was signed on for three films as well.

However, on April 4, 2012, Universal announced that they were instead rebooting the Mummy franchise, with Jon Spaihts to write the film and Sean Daniel returning as producer. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, after signing a two-year deal with Universal, will also produce through their K/O Paper Products banner. On September 24, it was announced that Len Wiseman would direct the film. On February 14, 2013, it was announced that Billy Ray would be writing a second Mummy script, which will reportedly be competing against Spaiths's for approval from Universal. On July 31, 2013, Wiseman has left the film due of schedule conflicts. On September 13, 2013, Mama director Andres Muschietti is in talks to direct the film. Orci, having spoken to IGN, hinted that both The Mummy and Van Helsing reboots will have a Shared Universe. The film is set to release on April 22, 2016.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of The Mummy characters

Character	Film
	The Mummy	The Mummy Returns	The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Rick O'Connell	Brendan Fraser
Evelyn Carnahan-O'Connell / Princess Nefertiri	Rachel Weisz		Maria Bello
Jonathan Carnahan	John Hannah
Imhotep	Arnold Vosloo
Beni Gabor	Kevin J. O'Connor
Egyptologist	Jonathan Hyde
Ardeth Bay	Oded Fehr
Curator	Erick Avari
Henderson	Stephen Dunham
Daniels	Corey Johnson
Burns	Tuc Watkins
Warden	Omid Djalili
Pharaoh Seti I	Aharon Ipale
Winston Havelock	Bernard Fox
Meela Nais / Anck-su-namun	Patricia Velásquez
Alex O'Connell		Freddie Boath	Luke Ford
Baltus Hafez		Alun Armstrong
The Scorpion King		Dwayne Johnson
Lock-Nah		Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Izzy		Shaun Parkes
Red		Bruce Byron
Jacques		Joe Dixon
Spivey		Tom Fisher
Emperor Han			Jet Li
General Yang			Anthony Wang
Lin			Isabella Leong
Maguire			Liam Cunningham
Roger Wilson			David Calder
Ming Guo			Russell Wong
Zi-Yuan			Michelle Yeoh

Other media

File:Mummy the Ride.jpg

The entrance to Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood

Two video game adaptations of The Mummy (1999) were published in 2000: an action-adventure game for the PlayStation and PC, as well as a Game Boy Color puzzle game. Mummy Returns and Tomb of the Dragon Emperor were also made into games. In fall 2012, a massive multiplayer online game known as The Mummy Online was released.

In May 2001, Chaos! Comics released the first of a three issue series inspired by the film, titled 'The Mummy Valley of the Gods'. The plot was supposed to take place between the first film and "The Mummy Returns". Rick and Evelyn are on their honeymoon in Egypt and end up embarking on yet another adventure where they must unravel the mysteries of the Orb of Destiny and discover the location of the Valley of the Gods hidden beneath the sands. However, the second and third issues were never published. This was most likely due to Chaos later filing bankruptcy in 2002 and selling the rights to all their titles at that time. Years later in 2008, another Mummy comic series was released by IDW Publishing, spanning four issues. This series was titled 'The Mummy: the Rise and Fall of Xango's Ax'. Unlike the preceding comic series, all of the planned issues were published.

From 2001 until 2003 the The Mummy: The Animated Series was made by Universal Animation Studios based on the Steven Sommers Series of films and set from 1934 - 1935. The series was later renamed The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai.

The film also inspired a roller coaster, Revenge of the Mummy in Universal Studios Theme Parks, Florida. Similar rides can be found in Hollywood and Singapore.

Derivative works

Other Mummy movies

• 1998, Tale of the Mummy, directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring by Jason Scott Lee.

Novels

• The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned, a 1989 novel by Anne Rice influenced by Mummy theme.

Features in other media

• The Filmation's 1986 Ghostbusters animated television series, features an overweight villain mummy, called Airhead.
• The Sony Pictures Animation 2012 Hotel Transylvania film, features a mummy, also overweight, called Murray.