The Mummy starts off on the wrong, dead foot with negative early reviews
By Buckie Wells
Though no one should really act surprised, some may feel disappointed to hear that the Rotten Tomatoes score pegs The Mummy as dead on arrival.
The Mummy opens this weekend and faces an uphill battle already. In addition to opening against the historic record-breaking box office hit Wonder Woman in her second week, The Mummy has to defeat any lingering naysayers who don’t feel any excitement toward a reboot that no one asked for.
But it’s here and Tom Cruise wants it to succeed. More importantly, Universal wants it to succeed as the first major stepping stone in the Dark Universe that will bring together the likes of The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein in a way that Dracula Untold couldn’t. But what The Mummy will call into question is whether star power is enough to push this cinematic universe forward. At this time, Tom Cruise is joined by Russell Crowe, Javier Bardem, and Johnny Depp. (Open for debate: Sofia Boutella is a movie star.)
Now, as they try to court one Angelina Jolie to be the bride, early reviews for The Mummy hit the internet. Of course, if you’re Universal, you want good reviews to entice the talent. But if you’re Rotten Tomatoes, you put together a bad score of 31 percent and warn people to stay away from this movie.
But will they really? The Mummy remains a cult hit, and if we look at several of the past Tom Cruise films, it’s fair to say people will go out and watch a good action flick. Mission: Impossible, Edge of Tomorrow, even the Jack Reacher sequel … the last time Tom Cruise opened below $50 million with a flop was 2012’s Rock of Ages and he stopped making films like that.
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Naturally, The Hollywood Reporter still expects Wonder Woman to come out on top this weekend. But don’t assume The Mummy will just roll over and go into its tomb quietly just because of some bad press. As Variety so plainly put it, “He’s Tom Cruise, dammit, and he’s not just going to stand by! He’s going to attack the issue. He’s going to fight it, debate it, stare it down, put it in its place, kick its ass, out-think it and out-run it, out-punch it and out-underwater-swim it.”