Lee Cronin and Blumhouse are ready to deliver the horror movie goods with their new entry in the long-running Mummy franchise.
Officially titled Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, Universal’s latest monster movie revisit is promising to be darker and more terrifying than previous films that carried the Mummy name, as the film’s intense trailers have already teased.
It’s now been made official that Cronin’s take on The Mummy will skew heavily toward horror, as it’s confirmed that the film will carry an R rating, a first for the franchise (via Film Ratings). The R was given for “strong disturbing violent content, gore, language and brief drug use.”
Brendan Fraser’s trio of Mummy films all carried a PG-13 rating, as did Tom Cruise’s doomed Dark Universe version from 2017. The very first Mummy movie was released way back in 1932, long before the MPAA began handing out content-based ratings.
The original Mummy was a typical 1930s chiller that depended more on atmosphere than effects, while Fraser’s Mummy films were Indiana Jones-style adventures with a supernatural element influenced by the works of Ray Harryhausen. Cruise’s Mummy seemed to have very confused intentions and ultimately landed in a disappointing space somewhere between horror and action.
Fans not thrilled by The Mummy taking a turn into full-on Blumhouse-style scares can still look forward to a new Fraser-led series entry, as The Mummy 4 is still going forward, and is expected to be rated PG-13 according to directors Radio Silence, with the caveat that they intend on pushing the boundaries of that rating as far as possible.
2026’s horror-leaning Mummy will offer a unique take on the franchise, according to director Cronin, who recently spoke about the works that influenced the film (via IGN). “It’s an insane mashup to suggest, but [this film is] almost one part Poltergeist and one part Seven, but put through my lens and the way that I like to entertain people,” said the filmmaker behind 2023’s gory Evil Dead Rise.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’s body horror and supernatural influences are teased in its synopsis, which reads: “The young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace. Eight years later, the broken family is shocked when she is returned to them, as what should be a joyful reunion turns into a living nightmare.”
Complicated family dynamics and body horror also played a big part in 2025’s Wolf Man, the last Blumhouse-produced Universal Monster Movie update, which sadly flopped at the box office by grossing only $35 million on a budget of $25 million. The studio hopes Cronin’s touch brings The Mummy back from the dead in a much more successful fashion than their ill-fated sad-dad werewolf movie did The Wolf Man.
Release Date
April 17, 2026
Director
Lee Cronin
Writers
Lee Cronin