The Mummy reboot film his biggest failure. Released in 2017, the Tom Cruise-led monster-horror was intended by Universal to be the launchpad for their new Dark Universe franchise, which would see the return of classic monster characters such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf Man. Due to The Mummy's combined critical and box office failure, the shared universe was quickly scrapped for stand-alone films.
Kurtzman sought to revitalize a franchise that first terrified audiences in 1932 when Boris Karloff played the iconic resurrected mummy Imhotep. The IP again dominated the box office in the spring of 1999 with the reboot of the same name starring Brendan Fraser as adventurer Rick O'Connell. With the bar set high, the pressure was weighed heavily on Kurtzman for the reboot's success. The latest version saw Tom Cruise star as Sergeant Nick Morton, who accidentally awakens princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) from her prison tomb. Introducing a secret society called Prodigium, led by Russel Crowe's Dr. Henry Jekyll, laid the foundation for the introduction of the vast catalog of monsters in Universal's library.
In a recent interview with The Playlist for their podcast Bingeworthy, Kurtzman described The Mummy reboot's failure as one of the biggest in his career. During the podcast with Kurtzman and his creative partner Jenny Lumet, the conversation turned to Kurtzman's takeaways from his colossal flop, where he described it as both a personal and professional defeat that left him filled with regret. Read what Kurtzman said about the experience below.
I tend to subscribe to the point of view that you learn nothing from your successes, and you learn everything from your failures. And that was probably the biggest failure of my life, both personally and professionally. There are about a million things I regret about it, but it also gave me so many gifts that are inexpressibly beautiful. I didn’t become a director until I made that movie, and it wasn’t because it was well directed – it was because it wasn’t.
Look, if you look at history and you look at people who’ve made amazing things, every single one of them will tell you the same story which is that it came after a failure, so I look back on it now with gratitude. It took me a while to get there, but my life is better for it.
The director further explained that he was also quite grateful for the experience and the mistakes he made because he claimed it resulted in him being a tougher, resilient, and more focused filmmaker. Kurtzman revealed that The Mummy reboot was a "gift" that provided him the clarity to know when to say no or stop toiling on a project he feels just won't work. He further made the comparison to all other artists who have went on to complete great works after suffering major setbacks.
Following Kurtzman and Universal's failure with the Dark Universe, the director went on to great success with the revitalization of the Star Trek brand through a series of popular shows such as Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds which would see Christopher Pike at the helm of the USS Enterprise prior to James T. Kirk taking over the commanding role of the ship. Although The Mummy's failure killed the chances for many of the planned Dark Universe entries, such as David Koepp's Bride of Frankestein, the popularity of 2020's The Invisible Man revitalized interest in the shared universe. In 2020, Chris McKay signed on to direct Renfield, a horror-comedy about Count Dracula's henchman who leaves his master's side to follow the one he loves. With Universal taking another chance on a new take of one of their classic monster characters, there may still be hope for the resurrection of the Dark Universe despite The Mummy's failure.
Source: The Playlist
