One of the Worst Sequels Ever The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Is Finding New Life on HBO Max

2 days ago 3

Published May 6, 2026, 4:54 PM EDT

Hannah has been writing about horror, sci-fi, and all things nerdy since 2021. At Collider, she covers news and conducts interviews, along with contributing features that dive deep into genre storytelling and why it works. If there’s something lurking in the shadows, she’s probably already writing about it if she's not too busy watching a tape from her VHS collection.

There is a certain kind of sequel that feels like it forgot what made its predecessors work in the first place. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor sits firmly in that category, a film that has spent years near the bottom of franchise rankings and “worst sequel” lists and is so bad that it's not even considered canon anymore. And yet, against all odds, the third installment in the Mummy franchise recently cracked the Top 10 on HBO Max, proving that even the most divisive blockbusters can find a second life in the streaming era. That resurgence raises a more interesting question than whether the film is “good.” It asks why audiences are returning to it at all.

The Franchise Lost Its Identity in 'Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'

The first two films, The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, built their appeal on a very specific balance. They blended pulp adventure with horror elements, leaned into practical effects where possible, and anchored everything around the chemistry between Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. The tone was playful but controlled. The stakes escalated, but the films always felt grounded in their characters. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor breaks from that formula almost immediately. The setting shifts from Egypt to China, trading the franchise’s established mythological identity for a new one that never quite settles. Weisz is replaced by Maria Bello, a change that disrupts the central dynamic in a way the film never compensates for. Even Fraser feels like he is operating in a different movie, one that leans harder into spectacle than personality. The result is a sequel that expands in scale but loses coherence. Action sequences grow larger and more chaotic, but they lack the tension and charm that defined the earlier entries. Instead of building on what worked, the film pivots into something louder and less focused, and the difference is impossible to ignore.

What makes the film’s current popularity on HBO Max so interesting is that it does not require a reevaluation to succeed. Streaming has fundamentally changed how audiences engage with movies like this, and Tomb of the Dragon Emperor isn't the only franchise sequel with an infamous reputation trending on HBO Max recently. A film no longer needs to be critically respected to be widely watched. It just needs to be accessible, recognizable, and easy to throw on. That is exactly where The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor thrives now. It carries the weight of a recognizable franchise name, it offers large-scale action that plays well in the background or during a casual watch, and for viewers who grew up with the series, it taps into a kind of curiosity. Even if they remember it as the weak link, there is still a pull to revisit it.

Nostalgia Is Powerful, Even When 'Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' Isn’t

The resurgence of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is not about rediscovering a hidden masterpiece: it is about the staying power of the franchise itself. The original films left a strong enough impression that even a widely criticized sequel can benefit from that legacy. There is a version of this story where the third film fades into obscurity, remembered only as a cautionary tale about how quickly a franchise can lose its footing. Instead, it has become something else entirely. It is a movie people return to out of curiosity, nostalgia, or even disbelief. It is the one you put on to see if it is really as messy as you remember. And in the streaming era, that is clearly enough to drive it to the top of the charts, because success on platforms like HBO Max is not always about quality. Sometimes it is about familiarity, timing, and the simple appeal of revisiting something you already know, even if you know it does not quite work. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor may still be one of the worst sequels ever made. That has not changed. What has changed is the way audiences engage with it. And right now, they are pressing play anyway.