Brendan Fraser, star of Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy movies, has reacted to Tom Cruise’s failed 2017 reboot. The 56-year-old — who played Rick O’ Connell in the films — recently reunited with his co-stars at a fan convention where they discussed the franchise’s popularity and place in pop culture.
Brendan Fraser talks about The Mummy reboot
Brendan Fraser recently attended the Fan Expo Denver alongside his The Mummy co-stars Oded Fehr, John Hannah, and Patricia Velasquez. The four participated in a discussion surrounding the franchise, moderated by Collider.
During the discussion, the topic of Tom Cruise’s 2017 reboot came up. The movie was part of an effort by Universal Studios to launch a shared cinematic universe, which would feature characters like Dr. Jekyll and The Invisible Man. Unfortunately, plans for the same were axed following The Mummy reboot’s critical as well as commercial failure.
The Oscar winner shared his thoughts on the movie flopping, acknowledging that making films like it was not an easy feat. “I really don’t know. I know Tom Cruise tried to make his movie and it ain’t easy!,” The Whale actor stated, continuing, “We all know how hard this movie is to make…”
The George of the Jungle star then explained why his The Mummy movies worked and Cruise’s didn’t. He said that his films were “fun” and a “thrill ride,” except for the third installment, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The actor added, “The answer is you’ve just got to give everybody what they really really want. If you stray from that path…”
Fraser previously echoed similar sentiments in a 2022 Variety interview. He called the Mission: Impossible star’s film “a straight-ahead horror movie,” stressing that The Mummy films should not be “terrifying” and “scary.” In addition, he expressed interest in reprising his role as Rick O’ Connell in a fourth film if someone pitched him the “right” concept.
Cruise’s The Mummy holds a 15% critic score and a 35% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, Metacritic shows a “generally unfavorable” metascore of 34 and a user score of 4.7.
