The Mummy’s Dark New Movie Breaking 27-Year Franchise Rating Tradition Detailed By Director & Producer

Lee Cronin is looking to deliver the darkest installment yet with The Mummy, including breaking a major franchise tradition.

Produced by James Wan and Blumhouse, the new film serves as a standalone reimagining of the classic monster movie series, centering on American journalist Charlie Cannon and his wife Larissa who, after eight years of grieving the mysterious disappearance of their daughter, Katie, are shocked when she's discovered in an ancient sarcophagus. As they adjust to her return, Katie displays unusual behavior, escalating into a more sinister affair.

In honor of the film's release on April 17, ScreenRant's Ash Crossan interviewed Lee Cronin and James Wan to discuss The Mummy. When asked about breaking the franchise's 27-year tradition of becoming the first R-rated film in the series instead of PG-13 or lower, the writer/director explained that there "wasn't any specific conversation about how far we could go," acknowledging that the team "knew what I'd do and what I like to do," and was thus "preordained that I would go" for more extreme content.

However, Cronin also explained that "I'm not interested in pushing boundaries just for the sake of it," viewing his movies as "trying to create an overall experience" for audiences and have "a purpose to the horror." For him, this began with helping audiences "fall in love with the characters and this family before we start to tear it all down" with Katie's disappearance, and teasing that a good example of such a balance is in "what will probably be one of the more talked-about moment in the movie involving a toenail":

Lee Cronin: But that also serves a purpose, because it starts out sweet, because it's actually about a mother, a grandmother, and this daughter, where they're actually just trying to create a sense of normality. You know what I mean? They're trying to do a glow up, for want of a better description. And then from there, something very visceral happens, but equally on the other side of that, it leans back into the mystery and the plot of the story as well.

Wan concurred that his filmmaker is "not trying to shock for the sake of shock," to which Cronin explained that the more shocking moments in The Mummy are "not by accident." In having an emotional root for the terror to come, the writer/director finds that "you can push as far as you need to make sure the moment is as expressive as possible."

The new Mummy movie landing an R-rating may not come as much of a surprise when looking at the talent behind its creation. As Cronin acknowledged, his two previous films, The Hole in the Ground and Evil Dead Rise, were decidedly in said rating field, with the latter horror movie, in particular, having memorably used over 12,000 liters of fake blood for some of its set pieces.

Wan, similarly, is best known for his more R-rated work in the horror genre, both as a producer and as a director himself. From helping launch the Saw, Conjuring and Insidious franchises to backing everything from the M3GAN movies to Mortal Kombat adaptations and Oz Perkins' adaptation of Stephen King's The Monkey, Wan's no stranger to very gory material.

But even beyond just breaking the franchise's rating tradition, Lee Cronin's The Mummy going for its dark new tone certainly marks a new direction for the property. The Universal Classic Monsters era of films aimed for a more serious tone, before the Hammer era leaned into campier, B-movie territory, and the Brendan Fraser-led trilogy from the late '90s and early 2000s, which was more akin to the Indiana Jones mix of adventure and occasional horror. Tom Cruise's infamous Dark Universe reboot similarly mixed its horror with blockbuster action, which largely failed to resonate.

By going for a more straightforward horror approach, Lee Cronin's The Mummy certainly has a good chance to set itself apart from the various other iterations in the franchise, an important thing as the long-awaited fourth Fraser movie is moving forward with a May 2028 release date. Much like Blumhouse's Invisible Man before it, having a successful filmmaker deliver a horror-focused reimagining could be the jolt the property needs.

This is also very pertinent heading into the opening weekend for Lee Cronin's The Mummy. No budget details have been shared for the film, but is expected to be in the $20 million range, which it is also already projected to earn in its opening. Though reviews have yet to drop, and could therefore lead to a change in viewer interest, early reactions have praised it for its extreme terror and visuals, living up to Cronin and Wan's promises of going extreme for a reason.