A New Mummy Film Brings Confusion and Excitement
This weekend, movie fans are being treated to a brand-new Mummy film for 2026 audiences. The issue is, people are confused over whether Oscar-winner and longtime star of the franchise Brendan Fraser will be in it or not.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy – now in cinemas – lends a terrifying new twist to the tale by making its titular character a young girl who goes missing in modern-day Egypt, only to be discovered eight years later among other individuals residing in ancient sarcophagi.
Director Cronin – the filmmaker behind 2023’s Evil Dead Rise and whose name has been added to the movie’s title – promises there will be an emphasis on body horror and possession in this new film, which rather goes against the action-adventure vibe of Fraser’s previous three Mummy movies, initially set in the 1920s, where he plays treasure hunter and former French Foreign Legion officer Rick O’Connell.
In The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001) and later follow-up The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), the focus is very much on archaeology and derring-do rather than any overt scares and horror. It also served as a reboot of the original horror film from Universal in 1932, starring Boris Karloff as high priest Imhotep and later the titular Mummy, roles taken on by Arnold Vosloo opposite Fraser.
But things have become more muddled with the recent announcements that Fraser will be returning to the films that first made him a Hollywood A-list star alongside original co-star Rachel Weisz – and just last month, John Hannah was confirmed to be reprising his role in the forthcoming movie as fan favourite, Jonathan Carnahan.
However, that as-yet untitled film is currently slated for a 2028 release, whereas Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is being released on April 17, and stars Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy and Natalie Grace.
But iconic horror studio Blumhouse is taking no chances with any potential confusion, though, posting a tweet daily to its X account since April 2, which reads: ‘BRENDAN FRASER IS NOT IN LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY.’
Many are still in denial, though, with Edward replying: ‘April Fools was yesterday, Blumhouse!’
‘Mentioning this out of nowhere is obvious confirmation he is,’ insisted Aiden, while another fan hoped out loud that this announcement was ‘reverse psychology’. ‘Not ‘til the post credit scene anyway,’ quipped someone else, as Kurt joked: ‘Wait ummm I don’t believe you the more you say it’.
But many others were clearly tired of clarifying. ‘THEY ARE NOT THE SAME STUDIO, THEY ARE TWO SEPARATE THINGS WITH THE SAME NAME,’ wrote Jack on X, with the emphasis of a person tired of repeating themselves.
‘I’m legitimately confused as to why people would be surprised/angered that a movie called The Mummy does not feature Brendan Fraser, especially since there were two (one made by Hammer) before 1999, and Cronin’s is a Warner release, like Hammer’s,’ reasoned Isaac.
And, of course, there was that much-maligned Mummy from 2017 starring Tom Cruise with female Mummy Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella), which was supposed to launch a whole rebooted shared cinematic universe, the Dark Universe, populated by Universal’s classic movie monsters including Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the latter dual role Russell Crowe had already appeared in opposite Cruise.
Another account, positioning itself as an industry insider, also shared how serious the confusion had previously become between Cronin’s Mummy film and Fraser’s.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy: Key details
- Director: Lee Cronin
- Writer: Lee Cronin
- Cast: Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Natalie Grace, Veronica Falcon
- Age rating: 18
- Runtime: Two hours and 13 minutes
- Release date: April 17, 2026
‘You might think this is a gag but I heard a SIGNIFICANT problem during test screenings is that people thought this would be tonally similar to the Fraser/Weisz Mummy flicks and it… is not, hahaha,’ @ViewerAnon posted.
Mentioning a rumoured alternate name for the film that was reportedly considered in late 2025, they added: ‘That whole period where they thought about renaming it THE RESURRECTED was 100% down to test audiences walking in expecting another Indiana Jones-like adventure romp.’
So anyone headed to the cinema this weekend for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, consider yourself warned that there will be no Brendan Fraser – but there will be a lot of supernatural horror elements surrounding a creepy child mummy.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is out in cinemas now. has contacted Blumhouse and Lee Cronin for comment.
